GB-DBH: Detroit: Become Busters
by WayWardWonderer
Summary: A strange and unexpected encounter with an ancient artifact in a haunted building sends Connor to a parallel dimension where four curious scientists and their equally curious equipment help to send the deviant android back to where he belongs. Unfortunately a brief haunting spree and few ghostly encounters keeps the deviant from returning home as quickly as he had hoped.


**October 7th, 2039:**

Exploring the relatively desolated and abandoned buildings in Detroit in search of hidden drug dens had left Connor feeling as melancholy as he was curious. Under Hank's guidance Connor carefully scanned over each building, his L.E.D. flickering between blue and yellow, and noted a total lack of human vital signs within the dilapidated structures. It seemed like it'd be impossible for anyone to hide out in such a place, but for the desperate and frightened any place that could be a roof over their head could be viewed a sanctuary.

"I don't detect anyone hiding out within these buildings, Lieutenant."

"For fuck-" Stopping himself short Hank took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he reminded the newly deviated android to call him by his first name. "Just call me 'Hank', alright? We're partners and you're my friend, so drop the formality shit."

"Of course. I'll be sure to do so from now on."

"Good."

"As I was saying," ever professional in his reports and assessments Connor continued with his findings. "I do not detect any human vital signs, but I can detect trace amounts of 'red ice' in the air, which is indicative of this building formerly housing a drug den."

"That's a start, I guess." Crossing his arms over his chest Hank stared at the rotting building and gave it an indifferent tilt of his head. "How old is the trace?"

"Approximately four hours, nineteen minutes and fifty-one seconds."

"Huh. I guess they were tipped off that the police were sweeping the neighborhood."

"Tipped off?" Connor questioned as his L.E.D. briefly shifted to yellow then back to blue. "How could anyone be tipped off? This particular patrol was only assigned to us this morning."

"There's always a dirty cop somewhere, kid. It won't take too long to figure it out, either."

"How so?"

"We just need to look at the officers who had access to our assignments this morning, and then see who snuck off to the breakroom or outside for a quick phone call. They're never as subtle as they think."

Nodding a little Connor looked back at the buildings and ran a second and more thorough scan of the properties. In doing so his L.E.D. flickered between red and yellow before cycling on a steady yellow in his right temple. Noting the addition sparse vital signs within the buildings Connor's brow furrowed with confusion, and was at a near loss of what to make of his readings.

"Something wrong, kid?"

"...I am detecting other signatures. Several of which I can identify; animals such as rats, pigeons and stray cats, as well as residual electrical signatures from exposed or improperly maintained powerlines and wires within the walls, but there is one that I... I cannot figure this out."

"What is it?"

"It's... It's like a strange residual... like an echo."

"An 'echo'?"

"Not like a true sound." The deviant was truly struggling to figure out what his scanner was picking up, and it was even harder for him to try to explain it. "It's like a trace of a human's vital signs from decades ago... Maybe even over a century ago."

"Wait..." Giving the deviant a coy grin Hank turned his attention to the building in question and let an amused chuckle escape his lips. "Connor, can your scanner pick up _ghosts_?"

"...Ghosts?"

"Yeah, rumor has it this building right here," pointing to the large abandoned, twenty floor apartment building constructed of bricks, mortar, stone and marble Hank decided to tell Connor the story that had become a rather famous urban legend throughout the city. "is supposed to be haunted."

"Haunted?"

"Do you know what a haunted house is?"

"The definition of 'haunted' is a place inhabited or frequented by ghosts, preoccupied as in with emotion, memories or ideas, and to be disturbed or distressed. I presume a 'haunted house' is an establishment portraying such characteristics."

"Right. Do androids know anything about ghosts, legends and myths?"

"Aside from 'RA9' there are no other legends or fables that androids give any merit."

"Well, humans do. And as skeptical as I am about ghosts and monsters lurking in the shadows I have to admit that this place always gives me the creeps."

"How so?"

"When I was a first grader," beginning the requested story Hank took a single step back and stared up at one of the usual Gothic gargoyles perched on the four corners of the roof top. "a story began to circulate through the playground that his building was haunted, cursed and that anyone who went inside would be driven inside by the malevolent forces that dwelled within."

Connor's curiosity had been piqued and the flash of his red L.E.D. gave it away. "...Can I ask for the details of this story?"

"Sure, kid. Wrap your analytical mind around this..." Keeping his blue eyes on the creepy building Hank told Connor the tale he had known since he was in elementary school, and didn't miss any of the details. "In the late 18th century an eccentric architect and medical doctor founded this building and used unusual materials in the construction of the building; cold-riveted girders with cores of pure selenium, magnesium-tungsten alloys, and gold plated bolts to name a few."

With his brow arched with interest Connor noted the significance of the noted building materials. "Such an inventory matches the items used in the design of the telemetry trackers NASA uses to identify dead pulsars in deep space. That is... impressive for an architect from such an era in time."

"Exactly. The building was inhabited by some of of this nut-case's sicker patients, or ones that were just plain crazy. They were left here and forgotten to die, or experimented on in secret."

"Experimented on?"

"Unnecessary surgeries and bizarre occult like activity. When word of this deranged man's little 'hobbies' came to light in 1919 the police forcibly removed the patients and took them God knows where, and the building had been left abandoned ever since. When the police rounded everyone up they found strange patterns scrawled all over the walls and the floors in their own blood, or candle wax or even human bones. The entire building had a creepy vibe and was immediately condemned by the city, but it was left to stand and rot while everyone was encouraged to forget it even existed."

"What happened to the architect?"

"Well, he returned to his private island mansion in New York City and founded his own damn cult. They worshiped some demigod of destruction, and tried to bring about the end of the world. Clearly," Hank extended his arms and motioned to everything around them in a somewhat dramatic fashion. "he failed."

"Do you know the architect's name?"

"Nah, I never heard that part. What I do know is the building's been abandoned for over a century, and soon became an unspoken landmark for daredevils and urban explorers to check out. Rumors spread that the people who stepped inside became violently ill, were plagued by relentless nightmares or went completely insane."

"...Is that true?"

"Don't know. I never went inside and I've never met anyone who has."

"Fascinating."

"Come on." Clamping his hand down on Connor's shoulder Hank pulled the deviant android alongside him toward the car parked on the street a few yards away. "We need to find the leak in the department, and then try to find a fresh trail to follow so we can track down our fleeing 'red ice' dealers."

"Yes, of course..." Glancing back at the enigmatic, boarded up building behind him Connor noted a strange luminous figure rushing past the window on the top floor and out of sight. His scanner vaguely managed to record the figure but it didn't register as anything on record. "...We should go."

* * *

Throughout the rest of their shift Hank kept tabs on any potential 'red ice' deals going down in the city via his contacts on the streets, and Connor continuously monitored the CCTV footage from cameras hidden throughout the city. While the trail of the suspected 'red ice' dealers had apparently grown cold the identity of the crooked cop was confirmed. The young officer, one who was only trying to protect his junkie brother, was taken aside for disciplinary measures and to have his status reevaluated in private. The outcome didn't look great, but Captain Fowler was more lenient on officers caught in a bad place feeling desperate, so no one was too worried about his potential future.

"I wish we had some clue to figure out where those elusive junkies went." Hank lamented as he leaned his elbow atop his desk and pressed his bearded chin down on his opened palm. It was getting late and the senior detective was ready to call it a day. "Find anything over there, kid?"

Connor's soulful brown eyes were transfixed on his terminal screen but the deviant was looking through it rather than at it. With his L.E.D. pulsing a steady yellow it was evident he was downloading information into his memorybanks and studying something with unbreakable interest.

"Connor?"

Remaining silent Connor continued his own task at hand.

"Connor, the breakroom's on fire."

The deviant didn't give the faintest of reactions to the wild comment.

"Connor, I'm going to groom Sumo up and enter him in a dog show."

As before Connor didn't respond.

"Connor? Hey, kid?" Leaning back in his seat his blue eyes narrowed somewhat and he tried a new tactic. "Connor, I think I'm having a heart attack."

The deviant's brow furrowed a little but otherwise he didn't react.

Snapping hid fingers twice in Connor's face Hank raised his voice and called the deviant's name once more. "Connor?"

"O-Oh, Hank..." A faint blue blush appeared on Connor's face as he realized that he hadn't heard Hank calling his name or trying to get his attention. Sitting upright in his seat and cybernetically turning off his terminal screen Connor gave the Lieutenant his full attention. "My apologies. How can I-"

"Relax, kid. I just wanted to know if you found anything on the missing 'red ice' dealers."

"Oh, no." The yellow L.E.D. transitioned back into its standard, healthy blue and the blush faded from Connor's face as quickly as it appeared. "I haven't found any leads."

"Shit." Crossing his arms over his chest Hank let out an annoyed sigh and was ready to temporarily admit defeat. "I didn't find anything either."

"What do you want to do now?"

"Right now I want to go home, catch the end of the Gears game and have a beer."

"...Can you skip the beer?"

"I'll meet you half way and have half a beer instead. Deal?"

"That is acceptable, yes."

"Alright." Turning off his own terminal screen Hank stood up and motioned for Connor to follow him out of the precinct so they could finally leave. "Let's get out of here and try to relax a little at home."

"That sounds like an ideal way to spend the rest of the evening."

* * *

During the drive home Connor remained unusually quiet as he sat in deep contemplation regarding the story of the abandoned building, and of the enigmatic architect that Hank had told him about during their shift. Too curious for his own good Connor had downloaded as much information on the bizarre architect responsible for the building's creation, and with it he had finally found a name, and with it came even stranger discoveries of the man's disturbing past.

Even while sitting on the couch in the livingroom, his attention was dedicated solely on his gathered information as opposed to the basketball game on television or Sumo sprawled out over his lap seeking attention. As his hand absentmindedly ran down the massive dog's back Connor's L.E.D. cycled in a steady yellow and only occasionally blinked back to its calm blue.

"What's on your mind, son?"

Actually hearing Hank's voice despite being lost in thought Connor turned to face the senior detective in the recliner beside the couch. "Pardon?"

"You're thinking." Hank remarked as he sipped the half of his beer in his drinking glass and gave the deviant a knowing glance. "And I don't need to see that little light in your head to know you're thinking. I swear I can_ feel_ you thinking from where I'm sitting."

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you."

"You're not. I just want to know what you're thinking about."

"...That story you told me."

"That creepy-ass building?" Nearly laughing at the comment Hank finished his beer and put the empty glass on the coffee table in front of him. "What about it?"

"I did some research into the building after I failed to locate a trail regarding the 'red ice' dealers, and found something very interesting about it."

"Oh? Enlighten me."

"The architect's name was Dr. Ivo Shador."

"Alright. What about him?"

"Ivo Shandor was an architect and medical doctor by trade. Specifically he was an Albanian medical student, research assistant, and the last disciple of Dr. Michael Zhorchev; a Serbian surgeon from Zagreb. Ivo Shandor fled eastern Europe to America to evade persecution for questionable surgeries, and took up a new profession as a highly eccentric architect." The deviant uncovered the information and with it an uncomfortable grimace formed on his face. "During the late 1800's Shandor's architecture firm was involved in the renovation of choice preexisting buildings, and the construction of new structures all at key locations. These public projects sparked controversy and a lot of people thought the work was unnecessary, and the projects in question ended in the 1900's for reasons unknown."

"Sounds like the guy was a local nutjob, and not too popular."

"Shandor was the subject of a unscrupulous controversy because he was, as you stated earlier, said to have performed a lot of 'unnecessary surgery' during his time as a medical doctor."

"I'll be damned. Some playground rumors are true after all."

"There's more." Leaning forward a little Connor rubbed his hand along Sumo's ears as he continued to tell Hank about the information he uncovered. "In 1919, he founded the Dark Church of Gozer."

"Whoa, that dude founded his own damn _church_?"

"Correct. After World War I ended Shandor had come to the conclusion that society as a whole was too sick to survive, and on June 6, 1920, he founded a secret society dedicated to the ancient Sumerian god Gozer." As he spoke Connor shook his head a little as if trying to further understand the information he had uncovered, but it only seemed to raise more questions than answers. "Shandor's Cult of Gozer had amassed nearly one-thousand purported followers and worshipers that were drawn in from all around the world."

"That's not a church, that's a_ cult_!"

"Shandor carefully chose his followers from the world's most affluent quarters and from the halls of intelligentsia." The astute deviant continued on as every bit of information he found was unsettling and needed to be discussed to placate his own worries. "He promised his followers stations of power and glory in the new post-Gozer millennia, while he had reportedly and secretly began binding them to his own personal service' both in life and supposedly in the afterlife."

"Damn." Now just as intrigued by the mysterious man as Connor had become Hank sat more upright in the recliner and stared at Connor's soulful brown eyes as if searching for the same answers that Connor had been seeking. "What else did you find out?"

"According to the sparse records of his activities in New York City Ivo Shandor used his family castle on Shandor Island as a refuge, lab, and temple for the Cult. It was there that Shandor consecrated the island to Gozer as both a tribute and a means of channeling paranormal energy to the island as a means of concentrating his supposed power."

"Fuck. This guy sounds like he was really sick in the head."

"Agree. Shandor and his followers researched heavily into the paranormal, especially in the fields of pre-Apocalyptism and ectoplasmic hybridology, and he also made serious connections within the Gozerian pantheon. Within the depths of his family castle he had also engineered an Orrery Chamber designed to align multiple dimensions. Despite being limited by the technology of his era Shandor was impressively ahead of his time, and had made sophisticated inventions."

"Shit. What about the other buildings he made? I'd hate to think that we had a mini-cult like that here in the city when it was just being founded."

"Apparently Shandor had secretly designed his buildings to act as an antenna for pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence. The cult had also reportedly performed rituals on the rooftop of a large apartment complex in an attempt to bring about the end of the world. Anything supernatural is difficult to prove and in turn difficult to dispute."

"How'd all this information come out?"

"An unknown source had apparently uncovered the information while excavating an old bookstore in downtown New York, and located all the information in an old, handwritten tome hidden in the wall."

"Weird."

"Indeed."

"What happened to Shandor?"

"He was arrested when he attempted to abduct a teenage girl. The police explored his place of residence and located numerous dead bodies arranged in his residence in an oddly artistic manner, and as such Shandor was sentenced to death. He died by electrocution in October 28, 1929 five months after his initial arrest."

"They didn't let him sit on death row long. He must've really unsettled the city."

"I believe that is a fair assessment of the situation."

"Man, just I when I thought the freaks who ruined this city couldn't get freakier, you find out an urban legend has some fucked up truth behind it."

"Hank, you stated that those who investigate the building become ill or lose their sanity, do you think there's a correlation between that rumored myth and the rampant drug use in the city?"

Amused yet intrigued by the sincerity of the ludicrous question Hank gave Connor a slight shake of his head. "I have no idea, kid. I don't have a degree in psychology, parapsychology or biology."

"Has anyone investigated this potential theory?"

"Connor, why are you so curious about this?" Sensing that there was something else on the deviant's mind Hank pressed him for more answers. "Is it because your scanner thing picked up on something that you can't figure out?"

"Yes. But there is something... else."

"What?"

"You'd think it was illogical or that I had been mistaken."

"Come on, tell me. I won't laugh or judge you."

Pausing for a moment Connor took in a deep breath then told Hank the truth. "Before we left the area I glanced back at the building curiously and I saw... I know for a fact that I had seen... someone... lurking in the windows on the top floor."

"Whoa, you saw one of the drug dealers?"

"No. It... It was not human, but it was_ humanoid_. My scanner did not detect any human vital signs even when I was staring directly at it."

"...You're sure?"

"Positive."

"What did it look like?"

"As I stated, it was humanoid. It was thin, moved very quickly and seemed to be exhibiting a pale green complexion, and it emitted a soft glow. I know it doesn't make any sense, but I do know that it's what I had seen."

Hank knew Connor wasn't the type to play pranks or make mistakes and the genuine confusion in his voice gave Hank a slight chill. "I believe you."

"...You do?" Turning to look at Hank with a pure shock in his soulful brown eyes Connor seemed relieved to know that his claims weren't too farfetched to be simply dismissed. "But... why?"

"You don't lie, kid. And just so you know seeing something you can't explain doesn't make you crazy, or ruin your credibility as a detective."

"Thank you. That's very reassuring."

"So, uh, you want to go back to the building and check it out?"

"You think we should investigate the building?" The deviant's yellow L.E.D. flashed to red for a moment before returning to a cautious yellow. "For what reason?"

"Well, you said you saw _something_ in the building, and you have a pretty interesting theory about the building and the rampant drug use being connected by some unknown source." Rubbing his hand over his bearded chin Hank tried to build on the deviant's preexisting theory. "Maybe there's some kind of mold or bacteria inside the building making people sick, fucking up their judgment or impulse control, and causing people to make very poor decisions."

"That suggestion is very interesting, and it could potentially be a serious health risk for the entire city."

"Then two detectives who are aware of this potential risk should go and investigate the building, shouldn't they?"

"I agree." Giving Sumo's head another pat Connor decided it would be logical to return to the building for a more thorough investigation. "We should explore the building and ensure that there is no dangerous substances that can cause physical or metal harm to the city."

"Right." Standing up from the recliner Hank motioned toward the front door with a point of his thumb over his shoulder. "I'll drive. I've always wanted to explore a haunted house... Maybe we'll find something worth reporting after all."

* * *

The return to the building in the dark of the night felt like an odd test of courage. The dark building was eerily quiet and seemed isolated as even the exterior street lamps refused to illuminate the unsettling structure. The rest of the street lamps were glowing, and yet the two nearest the building in question refused to light up. The block was quiet, desolate and seemingly draped in shadow as the headlights of the approaching vehicle shone over the decrepit structure pierced through the blanket of darkness. The two beams of light seemed to be the only light in the entire area that could give the eerie building some form of illumination.

"Creepy." Hank stated as he pulled the car along the street and threw the old vehicle into park. Turning off the engine but keeping the headlights on Hank stepped out of the car and looked up at the building only to feel a sense of dread and foreboding settle in the pit of his stomach. "Very creepy."

"Agreed." Connor joined Hank outside of the car and ran another scan over the building. Same as before he couldn't detect any human life signs inside the structure, but there was an odd trace signature that was humanoid in nature. "My scanner is picking up the same readings as before. No change."

"Anything moving around?"

"Aside from the rats and pigeons, no. I don't-" Stopping short Connor's brow furrowed and his already yellow L.E.D. flashed to a wary red. Letting his eyes drift upward toward the rooftop of the building Connor felt his Thirium pump skip a beat as he saw the same strange humanoid figure lurking around near a window in the North-Eastern corner. "...Hank. Look up."

Following Connor's line of sight Hank's blue eyes drifted upward and he took caught a brief glimpse of the green glowing figure stepping back from the window before it completely disappeared from sight. "What the- I saw that!"

"You saw it as well? That's good."

"How's it _good_?" The senior detective asked as his heart began to pound in his chest.

"It's confirmation that what I had seen can be substantiated."

"Right, yeah... Confirmation."

"We should go inside."

"Whoa, whoa... Hold up." Taking a cautious step back from the building Hank was evidently and adamantly against going inside the creepy, dangerous and crumbling building. "There's no way I'm stepping foot in that place. Not to mention the fact that if you're right, and there is something in there making people sick, I don't want to get infected."

"That's a fair and logical point." Lowering his eyes toward the boarded up front doors of the old building, an abandoned apartment complex, Connor ran another scan and noted that the boards were loose enough to be pried away and the entrance to be opened. "I can go inside, run a scan and return outside."

"You'd be willing to go in there alone?"

"Yes. There is no reason for me to be afraid of a myth, or anything bacterial or viral that could affect humans. I won't be long."

"Alright, just be careful." Warning the deviant as he stared back up at the window near the top of the building Hank crossed his arms defensively over his chest. A cool breeze blew through the streets and made the senior detective feel a little cold. "The building may be empty but that doesn't mean it's safe. The floor, the walls or even the roof could give out on you."

"Of course. I'll monitor the building's structural integrity as I investigate." Approaching the boarded up doorway Connor took hold of the first of the four boards and easily pulled it off the door frame, and tossed it onto the ground. The loosened and rusty nails gave way easily and made the effort incredibly smooth. After removing all four of the boards Connor put his hand on the tarnished brass door handle and pressed down. "The door wasn't even locked after it had been abandoned. Interesting."

"They must've run off in a hurry. I can't say that I blame 'em."

"I'll examine the ground floor and the staircase." Connor stated as he pushed the door open with a loud 'creak'. "If I see any sign of someone walking up to the higher floors then I shall investigate those floors as well, otherwise I'll return to the outside."

"Yeah, sure. Remember to be careful."

"I will."

Stepping inside the dark lobby of the long abandoned apartment complex Connor's superior android vision allowed him to see perfectly well in the dark, and navigate the area without stumbling or stepping on any of the debris on the floor. A long, rotting staircase connected the ground floor to the second floor, but it hadn't been used in years. A second staircase leading to the basement was located beneath the first staircase and concealed behind a small white door that was barely clinging to its hinges as age and decay threatened to collapse at any moment.

"Curious."

Scanning the floor beneath his feet Connor noted no recent footprints or activity indicative of squatters, and yet it felt like there was something, or _someone_, lurking about. Looking up at the ceiling Connor ran another scan that barely managed to pierce through the twenty floors above him, and he quickly noted the same trace signature.

"Someone is here, and yet they are not here." Stepping forward toward the center of the lobby the old, rotting floorboards began to creak and groan under his weight. As he stood perfectly still the floorboards began to buckle beneath him, and began to slowly lose their strength. "How is it possible for-"

With a loud 'snap' the floorboards underneath Connor suddenly failed and the deviant android fell from the ground floor and into the basement of the apartment complex with a graceless and unstoppable fall. Plummeting twelve feet straight down through jagged wooden boards and rotten drywall that cut through his artificial skin and caused him to bleed Thirium from the various wounds, Connor hit on the concrete of the basement with a painful 'thud'.

Landing on his right side Connor felt his right shoulder jam painfully into its socket and a firm 'crack' of his upper arm, where a human's humerus bone would be located, as his vision turned red and several warnings regarding the damage appeared in his visual processors. His ears began to ring as his audio processors struggled to recalibrate after sustaining such a serious hit, and his vision slowly began to clear.

From somewhere above Connor swore he could hear Hank's muffled voice calling to from above, but the words were unintelligible as his system remained bombarded with errors and warnings.

Lifting his head up from the cold, hard ground Connor's eyes struggled to focus on a strange object in the middle of the floor just a few feet away from where he had landed. Blinking a few times, the distressed red illumination of his L.E.D. filling the room, Connor recognized the object as a tall oval constructed of marble and gold, with a hollow center.

"What... is..." His voice was hoarse and garbled with static as he spoke aloud and tried and failed to run a scan on the curious object.

Dripping down from the tip of a jagged floorboard above Connor's lost Thirium fell and dotted on the curious object below, and with it a sudden flux in energy and power filled the room. What was once a hollow center flashed with a green hue as a spiral of ethereal energy began to fill the object at a steady clip. Within a matter of seconds the hollow void was completely full and a burst of energy ripples from the object and through the room with a single pulse.

Feeling suddenly, unexpectedly weak and tired Connor's eyes closed and his head fell down against the cold, concrete floor with a loud and painful 'thud'. More blue blood pooled beneath his already bleeding head as he fell unconscious.

While the room filled with a green light blackness swam over Connor's vision, and the deviant knew nothing more of the waking world around him.

* * *

**October 7th, 1992:**

Within the unorthodox headquarters of the self-deemed "Ghostbusters Central" the four titular Ghostbusters were huddled around a prototype of a new piece of technology designed to locate, and potentially open portals to another dimension. Dr. Egon Spengler, the resident scientist and all around genius, was fine tuning the odd new device with a screwdriver in his hand while simultaneously explaining the device's purpose to his impressed colleagues. The explanation of course was lengthy and complex, but the trio did their best to pay attention to his words.

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Spengler." Dr. Ray Stantz, the heart of the Ghostbusters team, complimented with colleague with full sincerity audible in every word he spoke. The device truly was impressive; a modified P.K.E. meter that could emit a controlled pulse when activated. "If we can find an effective energy source to power up this device we can truly begin chronicling the ethereal plane and keep malevolent spirits from trying to pull New York down into the depths of Hell itself."

Dr. Peter Venkman, the resident psychologist, back bone and all around smartass, let out a sleepy yawn and exhibited complete disinterest in the new prototype being discussed. "You and your gizmos are beginning to exhaust me, 'Spengz'. Why do we need to travel to a new world just to take notes? We have a whole _vault_ full of nasty ghouls and goblins to study right in the comfort of our cold, moldy basement as we speak."

"This isn't about chronicling ghosts, Peter." Egon nearly scolded his laidback friend as he finished adjusting the prototype under his hand. "This is about understanding our world, perhaps_ all worlds_ and potentially uncovering the truth about the concept of parallel dimensions. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like you and Ray stayed up all night watching 'Star Trek' reruns again."

"This is serious business, Venkman. If we can utilize this technology to our advantage we could-"

A sudden pulse erupted from the heart of the city and washed over the entire area like a ripple in a pond. The green tinted wave of energy surged through the entire area in a quick flash and seemingly dissipated into nothingness all around them.

Ray glanced about curiously and watched as Egon grabbed a nearby standard P.K.E. meter and began sweeping it through the air. "What was... that?"

"It was a psychokinetic pulse of a magnitude of eight point six."

Peter crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he honed in on the eccentric scientist scanning the air. "Egon? Did you do this?"

"This wasn't the result of my work, Venkman. Not this time."

From the ground floor of the firehouse the secondary smaller door installed near the base of the much larger green double doors opened up as Winston Zeddemore, the fourth member and unshakeable courage of the Ghostbusters, returned to the firehouse at a hasty clip. Jogging up the staircase to the second floor he joined his allies as the trio tried to figure out what happened and began seeking answers of his own. "What happened?"

"Ask the 'brainiac', my hands are clean on this one." Peter took a step back and held up his hands as if needing to prove it. "I have no clue what he's doing anymore."

"Egon?"

"It was a psychokinetic pulse." The physicist replied in level tone. "We need to locate it's origin point and investigate it."

"Well, good luck getting anywhere right now." Winston motioned to the window overlooking the street and let out a weary sigh. "When that pulse hit everyone hit their brakes and now traffic is all backed up."

Ray rushed over to the window to see it for himself and his shoulders visibly slumped with disappointment. "Oh, great... Now what?"

"I think we should get over to city hall and talk to the mayor." Winston sounded so sure of himself as he offered the suggestion.

"Why's that, 'Z'?"

"The mayor got into office by having our backs and supporting us every step of the way. We should at least _try_ to give him some answers."

"Good point. You should go, Winston. You're the one with the most experience with dealing in anything political."

Clearing his throat in a somewhat coy manner Peter volunteered to go with Winston down to city hall. "I'll go with him. I have a way with the mayor."

"You have a way of buttering him up, you mean."

"So what? I stroke his ego and he stays off our backs! Win-win."

Making a few adjustments to the standard P.K.E. meter Egon nodded at Ray and began walking toward the staircase. "You two go to city hall, Ray and I will go track down the source of the pulse."

Peter watched as the two scientists descended the staircase and called after them in jovial manner. "Don't wait up, honey. It's going to be a late night!"

Trailing right behind Egon as the taller of the two scientists sat down in the front passenger seat of their iconic vehicle, a refurbished hearse dubbed 'Ecto-1', Ray asked his friend what was happening in his mind. "What're you thinking, Spengler?"

"I'm thinking we may be in the midst of a new surge of paranormal activity."

"Think it has something to do with Gozer, or with Vigo the Carpathian?"

"Unknown. We'll need to find the source of the pulse and see if we can find the catalyst for this sudden influx of psychokinetic energy."

"I hadn't detected any strange anomalies during my usual sweep of the city, or encountered any spectral entities higher than a class two." Pulling Ecto-1 out of the firehouse's garage and onto the street Ray carefully wove his way through the stalled traffic and toward the theorized epicenter of the activity that was the cause for alarm. "I wonder if there's something special about today's date or astrological alignment causing this phenomenon?"

"We'll check out the area and then return to examine records and dates to seek any potential correlations."

"Such a strong pulse would need a very strong energy source to feed it. There must be a landmark or an artifact that activated it."

"I agree. There's still hundreds of structures throughout the city connected to the Gozerian cult, and we don't know how deep the Carpathian culture had been seeded into the city all those centuries ago." Using the P.K.E. meter to guide their way through the city and toward the epicenter of the chaos Egon's brow remained knit with curiosity and relentless intrigue. "We know that the 'mood slime' running beneath the city amplified the negative energy that had been brewing for generations, and we know that the apartment building where Dana Barrett had lived had been developed by Ivo Shandor, and was designed to connect our world to the Gozerian world, but we still don't know where the slime came from or what activated the Gozerian ritual."

"You're right. Maybe this will help give us more answers. I couldn't find much on Shandor's life beyond what you already uncovered, and his secrets with the Gozerian cult lie with him."

"What of your collection in your bookstore? Weren't you seeking to collect tomes regarding the Sumerians and Carpathians?"

"Yeah, but there's not a lot to buy. What I have as good as it's going to get for pretty much the rest of the foreseeable future."

"Don't you have a contact in the U.K.?"

"Yeah, that's how I got my collection to begin with. She did her best and she's still looking for additional information as often as she can."

"Hold it..." The P.K.E. meter in Egon's hand suddenly spiked and buzzed with a sharp reading. "Turn up here and continue West."

"West? What's located in the Western part of town?"

"A few old warehouses and a couple of 'no tell motels' for sure."

"Oh. Well, let's hope for a warehouse and not a hotel." The very thought of having to investigate the hundreds of possible rooms for a single source of energy made Ray's skin crawl worse than any ghostly encounter ever could. "I'd hate to see how our meters would react to human, uh... 'traces'."

"Agreed. There's a very good reason I chose physics over medicine."

The further away from the heart of the city the duo drove the less congested the streets became. Following the P.K.E. meter out to the designated place of interest the two Ghostbusters felt an odd chill in the electrically charged air as they neared the epicenter of the unusual activity. There didn't seem to be a single person in the area, and yet it felt like thousands of eyes were watching their every move as the iconic vehicle came to a gentle stop on the street just outside of an abandoned warehouse.

"Alright... Let's start here." Ray peered at the warehouse with disdain and then let out a calming sigh. "We should start from the beginning and work our way down the street."

"Right." Exiting the vehicle with his P.K.E. meter still in hand Egon swept the ingenious device over the area as he approached the warehouse of interest, and located the front entrance. "Most of these properties have been abandoned, so it's unlikely we'll encounter any problems from local security."

"What about the cops?"

"As long as Venkman hasn't said or done anything to upset the police commissioner again we should be alright."

"...I'll keep my fingers crossed, then."

* * *

Despite the unexpected, yet controlled chaos of the city mayor Jock Mulligan made time to speak with Winston and Peter as the duos very presence seemed to be enough to quell some fears, though they also raised some very difficult questions. While Winston continued to exude a perfect blend of respect and confidence in his demeanor, Peter oozed arrogance and charisma that would repel or attract people like a magnet.

"Thank you for seeing us on short notice, mayor." Winston greeted with a warm handshake as he and Peter sat down in the two chairs on the opposite side of the mayor's desk. "Please understand that while we don't know what's going in the city right now we are going to figure it out."

"Can you at least tell me that this is something your department can handle?" Giving the two Ghostbusters a stern glance the mayor tried to maintain some form of control over the situation. "Or should I go ahead and tell my voters to run for the hills?"

"Be patient, mayor." Continuing in a very disciplined and fearless manner Winston did his best to reassure the very man who may have been elected solely for being pro Ghostbusters. "Right now Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz are looking for the source of the disturbance. I'm sure they'll-"

Clearing his throat loudly Peter cut off Winston mid sentence and leaned forward in his chair. "Let me interrupt real quick..." With his blue eyes entirely focused on the mayor's face the most outspoken and brazen member of the team began speaking in a rather crass manner. "Now, as you know our services aren't cheap and we need to keep the lights on, food on the table and all of our little 'ghosty-pals' on lockdown. This little disturbance is going to stir up more of our 'tourist repellent', and someone's gotta' handle them."

"What're you getting at Venkman?" Rubbing his fingertips against his temples the mayor patiently waited for Peter to make his point. "Don't beat around the bush with me."

"What I'm getting at is this is going to be a BIG job, and we're going to need an equally big payout. Since your rise to power came from standing up on our shoulders, not to mention our reputation and popularity, I'm sure you'll be able to ensure we get paid what we're worth. Right?"

"Money. That's all you care about?"

"Not money. _Funding_!" Peter clarified with an amused chuckle to his voice. "We can't keep this city, your loyal registered voters, safe without the proper funding to keep our containment unit running, our proton packs and traps charged, and of course our staff, well... staffed!"

"Uh-huh, I figured as much. Look, I've already placed a massive insurance policy on the city as a whole to protect you guys from lawsuits when your little ghostly escapades get a little messy, don't worry about a paycheck."

"That's good to hear. In fact, I guarantee when you're up for re-election at least one of us will vote for you."

"Gee, thanks."

Winston quickly took control over the discussion once more and spoke loudly to encourage Peter to mercifully fall quiet until their meeting was over. "At any rate... I can assure you that we'll find out what's going on, handle it and keep everyone in the city safe. Just do what you can to keep people from panicking, overreacting or freaking out in general. You can count on us, mayor."

"I sure as hell hope so! I'd hate to think my faith in you guys was misplaced."

"...Us, too."

* * *

Walking down the street and checking every building of interest Egon and Ray failed to locate the immediate source of the disturbance, but they knew they were getting close. Using the P.K.E. meter as a guide the two scientists followed the trail and honed in on a seemingly misplaced apartment complex that had been abandoned in the 1940's. There appeared to be nothing of interest regarding the complex, and yet at the same it had an undeniable foreboding presence that made the two seasoned Ghostbusters pause in contemplation.

"What do you think?" Ray asked as he put his hands to his hips and visually assessed the twenty story building from a safe distance on the sidewalk.

"I think we need to go inside." Egon's P.K.E. meter was bright red and buzzing loudly as it detected heavy and powerful activity within. "The trail leads directly to this point."

"Yeah... And I think I know why."

"Why?"

"Look up." Pointing to a corner of the roof high above Ray sighed again and gave his friend a wary glance. There were four stone gargoyles perched on all four corners of the building, and all four of them appeared to be glaring downward at the Ghostbusters below. "Recognize that Gothic architecture?"

"It appears to be Gozerian."

"Yup. I think this is one of Shandor's buildings."

"That would explain the activity. At least to an extent."

Letting his eyes drift back down toward the building's front door Ray took a step forward and put his hand on the old brass handle just below four wooden boards that had at one point barred the entrance. "Let's just hope the building doesn't collapse on us, and wasn't built with shoddy material."

"Knowing Shandor's work I don't think that'll be an issue."

"Right." Pushing down on the brass handle the door stuck fast, then 'creaked' loudly as Ray applied more pressure and pushed it open with moderate difficulty. As the door opened into the darkness of the vacant, dusty and decaying lobby Ray reached into his jumpsuit pocket and located his flashlight to click on, and use to navigate his way through the building. "Okay... Watch your footing and follow me."

Leading the way Ray ducked down under the wooden boards and used his light to shine over the dirty, disgusting floor and kept near the walls to ensure nothing could fall onto his head as he examined the main lobby. Locating the staircase leading to the second floor Ray tested his weight on the first step, felt and heard the board protesting under his weight, and wisely decided against climbing the steps.

"'Up' is not an option." Shining the light around the floor and the staircase Ray noticed the doorway of the secondary staircase leading down into the apartment building's basement, and motioned for Egon to follow after him. "Looks like 'down' is the only way."

"If those stairs give out then that will be a definite 'yes'."

"Well, we have a tracker on Ecto-1 so I'm sure Winston and Peter would find us eventually." Pausing for a second as he opened the door beneath the primary staircase he turned to look at Egon over his shoulder, and gave him a casual tilt of his head. "...Okay, well _Winston for sure_ would find us."

Peering down the dark staircase stretching into the basement Egon held up the P.K.E. meter and sure enough the instrument was directing them down to the basement. "We need to check it out."

"I figured as much."

Moving very carefully, slowly and keeping each step precise Ray made his way down the staircase first, then shined his light back up the staircase so Egon could join him in the basement. Keeping the flashlight and the P.K.E. meter facing forward the two scientists quickly honed in on a strange ovular object in the center of the basement, and a secondary figure laying on the floor in front of the object.

"What is that?" Ray asked as he and Egon approached the two objects cautiously. Giving the figure a passive glance Ray stepped around them and walked over to the unknown object to get a more direct examination. "It looks like a sculpture, or maybe a support column."

"...Perhaps it's a doorway." Egon suggested as he held his meter up to the object while he knelt down beside the figure on the floor. "Perhaps that's how this guy found his way into the basement."

Ray nodded a little and knelt down beside Egon as he shined his light over the figure for a closer look. Noticing that it was a person laying on their right side and motionless on the floor the light trailed over their body and stopped near the shoulders of the jacket. "...'CyberLife'? What's CyberLife?"

"I don't know."

"Is he alive?"

Pressing his fingertips to the side of the figure's neck Egon couldn't detect a pulse and shook his head. "No. He's not alive."

"Aw, man." Ray peered down at the figure's face and grimaced heavily. "He's just a kid."

"Being approximately twenty-four years old is hardly a 'kid', Ray."

"So what? He was still so young!" Putting his hand on the figure's shoulder Ray rolled him from his side and onto his back to try to get a clearer look at his face, but couldn't place him as someone familiar. "It's a shame. We should let the police know we have a body down here. Think you can figure out how this poor guy died before they take him away?"

"I can give an external exam, but nothing more." Sweeping the P.K.E. meter over the figure on the floor Egon kept an indifferent gleam in his eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

"I want to know if this disturbance is the cause of his death. We need to know." Standing up from the floor Ray walked around the figure again and got a little closer to the curious ovular object in the center of the basement. The structure was made of stone and marble, and decorated with gold symbols. "I have no doubt that this thing is the cause of the disturbance, but how? What activated it?"

"Maybe our 'friend' here can tell us."

"Too bad dead men tell no tales."

"Ray?"

"Yeah?" Turning back around he watched as Egon lightly tilted the figure's head to the left to reveal his right temple. There was a red glowing circle of light in the figure's temple, and a puddle of blue liquid smeared on his temple and all over the floor where he had been laying. "...What is... that?"

Egon ran his fingertips over the blue liquid and examined it with the P.K.E. meter before giving his friend an odd glance. "It has the same consistency of blood, but it's not like any blood I've seen before."

"It's blue. That's so... weird! And extraordinary!"

Putting his palm down over the figure's chest Egon felt a familiar thrumming beat under his touch, and his brow arched. "I think this guy is still alive."

"What?!" Dropping to his knees Ray pushed Egon's hand back and leaned down to press his ear to the figure's chest. He could hear the same beating that Egon had felt, and his eyes went wide with shock as he fell back on his knees. "His heart's beating! He's not dead after all!"

"But I still can't find a pulse." Egon confirmed as he moved his fingers back to the side of the figure's neck, and then down to his wrist. Moving the P.K.E. meter back over the figure's body he gave Ray another shake of his head as righteous confusion quickly set in. "According to these readings he is and isn't alive at the same time."

"I don't get it." Straightening back up Ray studied the odd glowing light in the figure's temple and the puddle of blue liquid with a total look of loss in his curious eyes. "This guy is dead and alive at the same time, bleeds blue and has a some kind of light embedded under his skin right up against his skull. What kind of human is like this?"

"I have one theory that might explain the blue blood." Putting the meter aside Egon gave his friend a terse stare and an inquisitive tone. "He isn't a _human_."

* * *

With moderate difficulty Egon and Ray managed to carry the unusual man out of the apartment building's basement, and carry him to Ecto-1 to lay him down in the backseat for transport. Unsure of what to do or who to contact due to the man's blue blood, glowing light and mysterious appearance in the abandoned building the two scientists decided to take him back to their headquarters for a few tests. Repeating their awkward motions the duo managed to heft the injured and still unconscious man out of the parked vehicle in the firehouse's garage, and then up the neighboring staircase to the second floor above.

"Good thing he's really light weight." Ray remarked as he and Egon worked together to carry the man across their makeshift lab and into the adjacent bunkroom. Carefully they laid the man down on his back over the spare bed right beside the opened doorway, and proceeded to give him a quick physical exam. "Looks like that wound has stopped bleeding already. Think we should bandage it?"

"After I take a sample of the blue tinted blood, yes. It'd be best to treat him as we would any other injured person."

"Concussion?"

"Possibly." Egon carefully lifted up the man's eyelids one at a time to check his pupils with a flashlight, and made a few visual notes. "Brown irises, pupil dilation appears to be normal. No physical damage to the eye or surrounding ocular tissue."

"I'll go get the first aid kit and bring a few vials for your blood samples."

"Right. I'll continue to assess his condition." With a careful motion Egon turned the man's head to the left to check over the injury and lightly pressed his fingertips against the glowing red light just under the man's skin over his right temple. "Interesting. This light wasn't the result of a self-inflicted modification, this light is a physical part of his being."

Ray returned to the bunkroom with the promised items in his hands and had overheard Egon's observation. "Wait, how is light a piece of his physical being?"

"Unknown. I wish I could get an x-ray of his skull and see more details."

"That cut stopped bleeding but it still looks deep." Pointing to the wound Ray noted the white surface just beneath the man's opened skin. "Man, I think it went right down to the bone."

"I'll clean it up as best as I can and dress it with bandages." Taking a vial from Ray's hand Egon pressed the glass opening to the man's skin to essentially scoop up a sample of the blue tinted blue for analysis later on. "You should check the messages in case Winston or Peter called while we were out."

"Oh! I almost forgot." Leaving the first aid kit down on the small table beside the bed Ray took his leave of the bunkroom to check the company answering machine on the nearby table in the center of their community room and makeshift lab. "The mayor..."

Egon continued to assess the man's condition and determined that, despite not having a pulse, was in fact alive and stable. Returning his palm to the man's chest Egon noted a steady, normal heartbeat and could feel the man's chest slowly rising and falling as he breathed.

As he opened up the first aid kit to retrieve an alcohol wipe Ray returned to the bunkroom and resumed helping Egon take care of their unexpected guest. "No messages. So that's either really good, or really bad."

"Venkman is the key factor in that determination." Using the antiseptic Egon wiped away the drying blue blood and then placed a gauze pad against the wound before using medical adhesive to tape it down. "If the wound begins to bleed again I'll stitch it closed."

"Right." Hovering over the unconscious man Ray observed the gray suit jacket and smoothed out the fabric of the lapels to read the printed information. "So, the back of his jacket says 'CyberLife', the front of his jacket says 'RK-800' and it has a serial number. What do you think?"

"He might be a representative of a company, or he might be a patient from an asylum."

"I'm going to lean toward the former and not the latter." Ray decided as he checked through the man's jacket pockets to look for some kind of I.D. or personal items to gave the man some sense of identity in general. "If there was an escaped mental patient on the loose we would've heard about it, and I don't think he would've kept his jacket on."

"It'd depend on how mentally unstable he is to determine whether or not he'd have the functioning capacity to make such a decision."

"Nothing in his jacket pockets." Carefully Ray pulled the sleeve of the jacket off of the man's right arm, and then the left. Pulling the garment away Ray stared at the material, finding it to be of high quality, and noted the strange glowing triangular insignia on the left lapel, the middle of the jacket between the shoulder blades and of the blue glowing band around the right bicep. "Why is his jacket glowing?"

"Perhaps it's a new design of a reflector vest for emergency or construction personnel."

"I don't think anyone working construction is wearing a suit jacket, Egon."

"Fair point." Moving his hand up to the collar of the man's white dress shirt Egon loosed the black tie and passed the dressy garment over to Ray to keep alongside the jacket. "Help me roll him and see if he has a wallet in his back pocket."

"Yeah, good idea." Putting his hand on the man's shoulder Ray helped roll the man onto hia right side and noticed a wallet was indeed in the man's back pocket, as well as another strange rectangular device. "Got something." Retrieving the wall and device Ray let the man roll onto his back again. "Two things."

"What did you find?"

"A wallet," he held up the wallet for Egon to see. "and... this." Holding up the second object Ray was at a loss for what it was. The two scientists had no idea what a smart phone was, let alone any type of phone that was cellular and completely wireless. "I don't know what it is."

"Looks electronic." Egon took the second device to examine it while Ray checked through the man's wallet. "Got a name for our friend?"

"Yeah, I found his..." Ray's brown furrowed as he checked the man's I.D. and noticed a few curious and seemingly impossible details. "...I got his name. And a police badge. Uh... This may provide more questions than answers, Egon."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, according to this driver's license he was born... August 15th, _2038_."

"...Our friend has an I.D. from a future date in time?"

"Yeah. It doesn't expire either. Weird."

"This man was apparently born on a date forty-six years from now, and the lack of expiration date is more concerning?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"What about a name?"

"Says his name is 'Connor Anderson'."

"Address?"

"Way over in Detroit Michigan."

"So what's he doing in New York?"

Ray just shrugged his shoulders as he replaced the I.D. and put the wallet down on top of the gray suit jacket. "I guess we need for him to wake up and tell us that himself."

* * *

Using Winston's own personal car to return to the firehouse the two remaining members of the Ghostbusters left city hall, and did so with an indifferent sense of accomplishment. While the mayor wasn't going to condemn their actions, or limit their resources the lack of initiative or a plan wasn't exactly instilling the two Ghostbusters with confidence.

"That was a bust." Peter sighed as he leaned back in the passenger seat and crossed his arms over his chest.

"At least we know the mayor won't get in our way."

"It'd been nice if he could've at least given us some idea of what to expect from his political goons."

"Goons?"

"The last mayor had a rat for an assistant that had us committed to an asylum while the city fell apart. You know that where there's one rat a whole nest is going to be nearby."

"I can't argue with that."

"Now, if you could spread that whole 'don't argue with Peter' thing to the other guys everything would be so much easier..."

"Yeah, I politely beg to differ." Turning onto their final block back to the firehouse Winston noticed the vastly thinned out traffic and decided that for now the lack of panic would have to be enough for the moment. "At least no one's losing their mind in the street."

"Considering this is New York that should be taken as a _bad_ sign, not good."

"Another point I can't argue with." Pulling his car to the small parking area behind their headquarters Winston threw his vehicle into park and turned off the engine. "Let's go see if Ray and Egon found anything about that weird pulse."

"Nah. I'd rather scour the news for interviews from out local nutcases. They're always good for a laugh."

"Man," opening up his door Winston gave Peter a slightly annoyed shake of his head. "you got some weird hobbies."

"At least I'm not like Spengz collecting his mold." Following after Winston through the backdoor Peter scratched his hand over the back of his neck and let out an indifferent yawn of fatigue. "Or Ray collecting his equally moldy books."

"No, but at least they don't laugh at freaks on the street."

"I said 'nutcases', you're the one callin' 'em 'freaks'."

Quickly done having the odd conversation with Peter about society Winston crossed through the garage and looked at Ecto-1 before calling up to the second floor to where he knew Egon and Ray were busy analyzing whatever it was they surely found. "Yo, guys! Find anything useful?"

There was a brief pause before Ray responded in a somewhat uncertain manner. "Uh, you could say that."

"That doesn't sound good." Jogging up the staircase to the second floor Winston met Ray just outside the doorway to the bunkroom, and could tell by the look on his face that something truly unusual had happened. "What did you find?"

"Not so much a 'what'," Ray replied as he stepped away and gave Winston a clear view inside the bunkroom. "but a 'who'."

Peering inside the bunkroom Winston watched as Egon used a P.K.E. meter to register the unknown man's vital signs. "Whoa, who's that?"

"Connor, I guess."

"_You guess_?"

"That's the name on his I.D., but he hasn't woken up since we found him."

"Found him where?"

"One of Shandor's old apartment buildings on the West side of the city. It was abandoned and closed off, but we found this kid unconscious in the basement."

Egon looked up and gave Ray a somewhat annoyed glance. "He's not a kid, Ray."

"Anyway," Ray continued on as Winston got a good look at Connor's face. "we're waiting for him to wake up to ask him a few questions."

"Shouldn't he be in a hospital?"

"Uh..."

As Ray trailed off Egon held up the vial containing the sample of blue blood and made sure Winston could see it. "Since his blood is blue and not red I doubt a traditional hospital can help him."

"...Blue?"

Ray nodded and returned to the bunkroom to look down at Connor's face. "He took a blow to the head and the wound was bleeding blue. He doesn't have a pulse but he does have a heartbeat and he's breathing." Carefully he peeled up the gauze bandage over Connor's right temple to reveal the glowing L.E.D. underneath, the red light now yellow. "And he's got a light embedded in his skin."

"That's... weird. What else about him?"

"Well, he's apparently a detective from Detroit... and born in the year 2038."

"...You're telling me we have a cop from the future who can bleed blue blood?"

From behind Winston as he remaining the doorway Peter's voice called out with his unwarranted opinion. "A blue blood with literal blue blood." Pushing past Winston to get inside the bunkroom Peter also looked down at Connor's face and gave him an uninterested tilt of his head. "Seems about right to me."

Slightly annoyed by Peter's usual unprofessional indifference Egon gave his friend a stern tone of voice as he addressed his righteous irritation. "This is serious, Peter. We don't who he is, why he was in that building or how even got there to begin with. He's not human and I can't identify what he could possibly be."

From the bed Connor's head lolled slightly as he began to stir. His eyelids fluttered a little before his brown irises appeared and his hazy vision slowly began to focus. The deviant's processors rebooted slowly as Connor ran a self-diagnostic and slowly sat upright in the bed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. Unable to gain his current coordinates as his G.P.S. had nothing to lock onto Connor felt his Thirium pump racing in his chest as the sense of being lost, truly lost, had an unexpectedly frightening effect on his mind.

"...Uh?" Ray stated in a somewhat hesitating tone as he watched Connor regain consciousness. "Hi?"

Lowering his hand from his eyes Connor turned his head slowly to face the voice and locked on to Ray's eyes. Like Markus it appeared that Ray also had mismatched, heterochromia irises; one blue and the other green. Swallowing once in an uncharacteristically nervous reaction Connor finally responded in a low, but audible voice. "...Hello."

The four Ghostbusters observing Connor let their shoulders slouch in relief as Ray continued to speak with Connor. "So you speak English. That's handy."

"Actually, I'm multilingual; a polyglot. I can speak six-thousand, five-hundred and forty-three languages."

"...Uh, cool?" Ray wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, and his awkwardness was as palpable as it was understandable. "That's... handy. So, uh, you got a name we can call you by?"

"My name is Connor."

Having a confirmation on the identity that had been discovered in Connor's wallet was beneficial and helped clear the tension in the air of the heavy mistrust, and understandable caution that the four scientists were exhibiting. While the tension was lessened considerably the countless questions hanging in the air were still weighing heavily on everyone's minds.

Speaking up politely Connor dared to ask his first question. "...May I ask a question?"

"Sure, go for it."

"...Who are you?"

"Oh, uh, right." Clearing his throat a little Ray properly introduced himself and the other Ghostbusters to Connor in a polite manner. "I'm Dr. Ray Stantz. This is Dr. Egon Spengler," he motioned to Egon sitting in a chair beside the bed and then to Winston standing behind Egon. "that's Winston Zeddemore, and that's-"

"Dr. Peter Venkman." Peter interrupted and gave Connor a casual wave of his hand. "He answered your question now you answer one of ours."

"...Very well." Connor nodded in agreement as he turned his attention to Peter and away from Ray. "What would you like to know?"

"Why is your blood blue?"

Connor's brown eyes went wide for a moment but he answered truthfully. "...I'm an android."

"...Oh. Well, that doesn't really answer my question."

"...My blood isn't truly blood," Connor elaborated as he decided to provide more information. "it's Thirium."

"Yeeeah... Not ringing a bell."

"I'll explain Thirium if you'd wish, but there's one more question I'd like to ask first."

Winston put his hand on Peter's shoulder to silence him and spoke up before he had the chance to say anything else abrasive. "What do you want to know?"

"Where am I?"

"New York City."

"New... York?" Connor closed his eyes as his disabled G.P.S. system tried and failed to confirm the coordinates. Being so far away from his home in Detroit against his will made his Thirium pump beat even faster. "...How did I get here?"

"Well," Ray sat down beside Connor on the bed and gave the now self-admitted android a somewhat timid glance. "we were hoping you could tell us that last bit of information."

"I... I don't know."

"What do you know?"

"...My last memory before I lost consciousness was of exploring an abandoned apartment building in Detroit. I had... fallen through the floor and landed in the basement of the building, and my cranium impacted the ground. Before my system entered emergency stasis mode I saw a strange ovular object constructed of marble and marked with gilded symbols in the center of the basement."

Ray looked over at Egon who kept a perfectly stoic mask on his face as he listened to Connor's story.

"Just as I lost consciousness a strange pulse of energy erupted from the structure and filled the basement with a green light."

Egon nodded a little as he decided to confirm that what Connor experienced was the same experience they had encountered that very evening. "The same pulse, one of psychokinetic energy, must've come from the same curious artifact that Ray and I encountered at the abandoned building downtown."

"You encountered the same phenomenon?" Connor inquired as he looked to Egon in search of answers.

"Apparently so."

"...Do you know how I ended up in New York from Detroit?"

"At this time, no. Connor, I have to ask you a question, and this one might seem a little unusual."

"Considering the circumstances I don't think an unusual question is going to be a problem."

Leaning slightly forward in his chair Egon locked his own brown eyes onto Connor's eyes and leveled off his voice. "What date is it today?"

Furrowing his brow inquisitively Connor answered the question based on his own internal chronometer. "It's October 7th, 2039."

The four Ghostbusters all silently exchanged odd glances as the answer was not only completely incorrect, but incredibly farfetched.

Sensing the tension in the air Connor dared himself to speak up again. "...Is it not October 7th?"

"Not quite." Ray replied honestly in wary voice. "You got the date right, but not the year."

"...I don't understand. What is the current year if it's not 2039?"

Motioning to the calendar hanging on the far wall of the bunkroom Ray confirmed the actual current year and hoped Connor didn't have a bad reaction to the fact as it was clearly one that'd be difficult to accept. "It's 1992."

Turning to look at the calendar Connor's eyes went wide again and he could feel his breath hitch in his chest. "That is... not... possible."

"I'm afraid it is, kid."

"...I don't... Please. I need help understanding this." Connor's L.E.D. was blinking a rapid red in tandem with his racing heart as the sudden lack of available information and inability to communicate with his allies left him feeling overwhelmed and isolated at the same time. "I... I'm not... functioning as I should. My processors have been... disabled. Please help me."

"Well, that's what we're going to do." Doing his best to remain as friendly and approachable as possible Ray promised to help Connor find his answers, while the Ghostbusters found their own. Ray knew that Connor was important to the incident at hand, he just didn't know how. "Why don't we start from the beginning? Tell us why you were exploring that apartment building in Detroit, and tell us everything you know about that building in general. You never know what details could give us our answers."

* * *

The thorough exchange of crucial information between Connor and the Ghostbusters yielded little results. While Connor was entirely honest and managed to inform Ray of his knowledge regarding the abandoned apartment in Detroit that had been designed by Ivo Shandor, none of the Ghostbusters seemed to be able to help Connor figure out how and why he ended up in New York after the strange green psychokinetic pulse resonated from the strange object in the apartment's basement.

"This is very strange." Ray paced about curiously as Connor sat on in a chair near a comparatively primitive computer and watched as Egon ran some additional tests on the deviant android who was seemingly out of time. Connor was sitting in the chair with his shirt off as he had been hooked up to a few leads to his chest, and had what looked like colander with wires and electrodes over his head. "I couldn't fine any record of Shandor doing anything outside of New York City."

"My information regarding his travels was never made abundantly clear." Connor admitted as he put up with Egon's tests and tried to engage in conversation with Ray. "And if I'm truly in the past then the cybernetic connection that provide me with crucial information has been severed. I can only provide you with the information I had downloaded before this... incident."

"Don't worry about it, Connor. We'll figure out what's going and get you back your time and city."

"I appreciate your help."

Egon was busy typing away on his keyboard to chronicle the data he gathered on Connor and was listening to the conversation. "We're aware of what your I.D. says regarding your name and your date of birth. You being an android explains why you're technically only one year old, but I.D.s can be faked. Do you have any further proof of your claim."

"...Perhaps this." Reaching into his front jean pocket Connor retrieved his quarter and showed it to Ray. "Look at the date in which it had been minted."

Curious about the claim Ray took the coin and read the date aloud. "It says 1994. Two years from now." Turning the coin about between his index finger and thumb Ray noted a few other details on the coin. "It's well worn, aged and clearly has been around for numerous years. I think it's legit, Egon."

Connor gave the two scientists a mild shrug as he tagged one additional and important detail. "Lying to you about who I am and where I came from is only going to hinder my own chance of returning home. I have no valid reason to deceive you."

"Good point." Giving Connor back his coin Ray sat down on the small table beside the chair and let out a deep sigh. "Well, we could always go and check out the other buildings that Shandor created and see if we find any other disturbances."

"I think it'd be more beneficial to find out what activated the unusual portal that brought me to the past."

Egon agreed with the idea and removed the odd contraption from Connor's head. "He's right, Ray." Grabbing onto Connor's left arm Egon examined the bend of his arm and looked for a vein. "I want to run a blood test while you and Winston check out the apartment again."

Connor's mouth ticked a little as he pulled his arm from Egon's grip. "If you wish to have another blood sample a common syringe won't be able to find a line." Retracting the artificial skin from over the bend in his arm and partially down his forearm Connor slid open the white plastimetal frame and showed the line to Egon. "You'll have to take it from the source."

"...I can see that."

Ray's mismatched eyes went wide and a fascinated grin appeared on his face. "Wow! That's incredible!"

Connor patiently watched as Egon expertly inserted the needle into the now exposed line, and retracted the plunger on the syringe to withdraw a fresh sample of his Thirium, his blue blood. "Please refrain from asking for any additional samples."

"Can I ask why?"

"Unlike humans androids are incapable of regenerating our blood once it's lost. It needs to be replaced through external measures, and since I'm not in my time or even my city Thirium will be impossible to come by."

"Thirium is the proper term for this 'blue blood'?"

"Correct." As the needle was retracted from his line Connor applied mild pressure to coax his self-healing program into repairing the small puncture wound, then replaced the panel over his arm. The artificial skin regenerated over the frame and with it Connor's arm looked entirely normal. "Like humans my vital signs will fall within the same parameters, and I can be treated in an identical manner in the event I sustain damage, and just like human blood androids will die if we lose too much. It acts in the same manner and as such Thirium was nicknamed 'blue blood'."

Ray picked up Connor's white dress shirt and handed it back to him. "Let's go find Winston and check out the apartment." Pressing his fingertips to his own right temple he pointed at Connor's temple in regards to the L.E.D. glowing blue in the side of his head. "You should also put the bandage back over your light to hide it. We don't want any unnecessary attention coming our way."

"That is a wise precaution." Connor stood up from the chair and reclaimed his shirt. Slipping it back on over his arms Connor noted his CyberLife jacket sitting on the nearby table and decided against wearing it as it too would bring unwanted attention. "When do you wish to leave?"

"Let's go right now." Ray made his way toward the staircase and motioned for Connor to follow after him. "Winston's downstairs."

"Very well." Walking down the staircase behind Ray at a steady pace Connor rebuttoned his shirt and left it untucked considering he was not going to wear the tie or the jacket. "I must admit I'm very curious to see this city. Being able to see it forty-eight years in the past is something that is otherwise impossible."

"Since you're an android does that mean you don't need to do the usual things humans need to do?"

"Can you specify?"

"Well, like do you need to eat, drink, sleep or... you know. Other biological functions?"

"I don't need any sustenance in the same way as organic lifeforms need." Connor clarified as he noticed a small box of band-aids on tool bench against the far wall. Taking one of the bandages he applied it to his right temple and covered his L.E.D. under the layer and out of sight. "I do however require Thirium to maintain proper function. It's something I handle on a weekly basis."

Ray opened the driver's side door of Ecto-1 and stared at Connor curiously. "...What happens if you don't get more Thirium?"

"I will lose my functions, one at a time, and eventually shutdown."

"Shutdown?"

"...Die."

"Oh..."

"I'll be alright. I haven't sustained any significant injuries and I had replenished my Thirium the evening before this particular incident took place."

"Well, good." Clearing his throat somewhat nervously Ray called out to Winston as the fourth member of the team watched the television as the news tried and failed to detail the paranormal events currently plaguing the city. "Hey, Z! We need to check out the apartment building."

"Yeah, I'm coming." Turning off the television he hurried over to the car and opened the front passenger side door. "It's better than sitting around."

"Connor," addressing the android in a kind voice Ray motioned for him to climb inside and sit in the middle seat. "come on. You being able to see New York for the first time is going to be a real treat for you."

As the iconic hearse pulled out of the garage Peter, who had been kicked back and relaxing at his desk at the rear of the ground floor's main office, decided to head upstairs to pay their resident scientist a visit. Strolling casually up the stairs Peter saw Egon hovering over a microscope with a slide of Connor's blue blood under his trained eye.

Walking right up behind Egon as quietly as possible Peter clamped both hands down on Egon's shoulders as he loudly announced his presence. "Hey, Spengz!"

Egon jumped slightly and turned his head enough to give Peter an annoyed glare. "Venkman."

"Find anything interesting about our guest?"

"You mean aside from his blue blood, lack of bones and ability to retract and regenerate his flesh?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Peter, I don't know who Connor is or if his statements about being a detective in future Detroit are true. I can however confirm that he is NOT a human."

"Is he a threat?"

"Doubtful."

"And he's... not a zombie, right?"

"No, Peter. He's not a zombie. In fact," Egon noted his recorded information on Connor's vital signs and gave his friend a quick glance. "by all account he registers has a human, yet he is not. He has the same heart rate, blood pressure and core temperature as a human, and the P.K.E. meter even indicates the same wavelength of a human soul. He is not human, but he is not a threat, either."

"So he's an alien?"

"He's apparently an android. And aliens don't exist."

"How can you believe in ghosts but not aliens?"

"I don't have the time to explain my beliefs to you."

"Fine, whatever." Sitting down in the nearby chair Peter annoyingly put his feet up on the corner of the desk and sighed. "Anything cool about his blood?"

"Can you define what you mean by 'cool'?"

"Like, can we sell it for a quick buck, or use it to cure cancer?"

"No."

"Typical." Dragging his hand over his chin Peter leaned back even further in the chair and then folded his hands neatly behind his head. "So where'd the 'dream team' go anyway? It's almost midnight."

"They went to investigate the apartment building where Ray and I found Connor earlier this evening. There may be something new that Connor can tell us if we can jog his memory."

"How do you do that with a machine? Smack it a couple of times, or turn it off and then back on again?"

Returning his attention to the microscope Egon gave his friend an impatient sigh. "Neither. We wait for the information to prevent itself."

"Since when do we just sit around and wait?"

"We have no leads to follow or idea of how or what triggered the event to begin with. The only person who can potentially help us is Connor and right now he is with Ray and Winston exploring the Shandor building as we speak. Until he can give us more information we cannot move forward."

* * *

For the second time that very late night Ecto-1 drove to the West side of the city and parked along the street leading to the enigmatic and abandoned Shandor apartment building. It was still eerily quiet and deserted along the street, but that type of eeriness was actually welcome as the lack of activity and people in the area made it easier to explore without needing to worry about innocent bystanders getting in the way or harmed.

"Okay, Connor." Ray put the hearse into park and turned off the engine. "This is where Egon and I found you. Does the place help with any memories?"

"...In a way." Peering up at the building through the passenger side window Connor scanned the building's interior and matched its design to the apartment building in Detroit. The two buildings were not only identical but appeared to be perfectly cloned. The height, scale, windows, doorway and the four gargoyles perched atop the roof's four corners were the exact same Gothic architecture that were indicative of Gozerian design. "This apartment building is perfectly identical to the apartment building I had attempted to explore in Detroit."

"You said that you confirmed the architect was Ivo Shandor, well, we confirmed the same for this building, too."

Winston hated that Shandor's creepy claws had found their way to more than one city, and it made him shudder. "I wonder how many other growing towns and cities Shandor tried to corrupt before he was finally executed?"

Ray just shook his head a little as he opened his door. "I dunno', Z. But one is already too many."

Connor followed after Ray while Winston opened his own door to step outside of the hearse. "My ability to scan is still functioning." Connor stated and then quickly decided to add more details. "Scanning is what allows me to upload vital and detailed information. I cannot currently download anything due to the lack of satellites and wireless internet connections due to the current era."

"Uh, what's the 'internet'?"

"...Complicated. But it allows people to connect and exchange information from all over the globe. You'll only need to wait for approximately five more years before you'll have the chance to experience it for yourself."

"Great! Looking forward to it."

Winston put his hands to his hips as he glanced at the partially damaged front door and gave this two allies a strange glance. "So, Shandor used this building for his weird cult rituals, or what?"

The deviant android gave Winston an uncertain glance. "The information regarding the building in Detroit failed to mention anything about a cult or any type of rituals. It did however house numerous mentally unstable people and doubled as an asylum."

Ray dragged his hand over the back of his neck and sighed. "Sounds like Shandor was using these buildings to lock away his members who went a little too far over the edge to silence them. Or it's where he hid the women he kidnapped to he could use them later on when he found them to be useful again."

From beneath the bandage Connor's blue L.E.D. flashed to red as he realized the horrid gravity of the situation. "...They were used as a tool and no longer seen as people."

"Yeah. That's really sick." Taking a step toward the building Ray took a P.K.E. meter that was hanging from his jumpsuit's belt and held it up over the building. There was absolutely no reading and the meter stayed silent. "Damn. Whatever happened here isn't active anymore. We need to figure out what caused the reaction to know what it was that created the energy pulse."

"Neither can I." Connor confirmed as he ran a scan over the building and failed to detect the same strange signature he had picked up while exploring the apartment building in Detroit. "It appears there is nothing of interest here."

"In other words," Ray turned to face his allies directly as he put his hands to his hips. "we're at a dead end."

Connor gave the helpful scientist a disappointed stare. "If we cannot isolate the incident at hand then there is no chance of us replicating and reversing the process so I can return home."

"Unfortunately Connor it looks like we're going to have to wait a while longer, and keep searching for answers."

"...Then I'm trapped here. I don't have my home, my friends... my family. I have nothing."

"I'm sorry, Connor. Don't give up hope."

Watching Connor's demeanor closely Winston noticed that the deviant seemed to be speaking from experience. "You know something, we never asked you about your life. We know you're an android working with the Detroit police, but we never asked what it's like to be an android living among humans."

Giving the thoughtful man an appreciative glance at wanting to converse Connor nodded a little. "...It wasn't always easy."

"Well, why don't we get away from this spooky relic from the past and talk about something else for a while. I want to know what it's like in the future."

The trio departed from the enigmatic yet quiet building to take temporarily distract their thoughts. While Connor felt truly lost with little options at his disposal having the Ghostbusters willingly helping him, and not being afraid of him did seem to give him a vague grounded feeling.

* * *

The dark night stayed quiet as a cool autumn breeze chilled the streets. Driving out to the Upper New York Bay along the Hudson River the two helpful and curious Ghostbusters spoke with Connor about the not-too-distant future, and of how strange it was that the exploits of the Ghostbusters in general had seemingly disappeared from history. While the trio spoke to one another Connor caught sight of the Statue of Liberty illuminated by bright white lights out on her perch in the middle of Ellis Island. Having never seen the iconic monument in person before the deviant android's eyes lit up and he seemed to be distracted by her unexpected beauty.

"Wow." Ray sighed and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck as he put Ecto-1 in park along the water. "So everything we've done and everything we will do will all be forgotten? Talk about gratitude!"

"I cannot explain it." Connor admitted as he continued to stare out at the pale green statue in the distance. "But it seems accurate. The information I uncovered during my own research in Shandor appears to be a perfect copy of your own chronicled information; and all the more curious is the lack of a confirmed author behind said literature."

"Really?"

Now Winston was getting just as intrigued as Ray, though he wasn't nearly as offended to know that their work wouldn't be recorded for posterity. "Where'd you get your information from, Connor?"

"It was recorded in an obscure file regarding occult references in the depths of my precinct's archives. The origin of the information itself stems from a hand written tome located in the wall of an abandoned bookstore."

Ray's mismatched eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Connor as the trio exited Ecto-1 to stand along the water. "I own a bookstore downtown."

"Did you ever open or plan to write down your findings and contain them in a single tome?"

"Not as of this moment, but maybe in time I will."

"Very interesting."

"Well, maybe if we can trace the book's origins we can-" A sudden gust of truly icy cold wind erupted from the water as two spectral beings of the past manifested before the gathered group. Ray raised his arm to protect his face from the billowing wind and eyed the shrieking deities now before him. "Hey! I think those are the spirits of the victims from the Execution Rocks Lighthouse!"

"How can you tell?!" Winston shouted as he back away from the water and away from the ghosts.

"They're dressed as sailors!"

"Oh. Of course."

Connor's soulful brown eyes fixated on the ghosts before him and he ran a scan to try to chronicle their existence. In doing so he noted the same peculiar reading he had picked up at the apartment building back in Detroit and knew he was close to finding his answers. "Dr. Stantz these beings exhibit the same signa-"

Ray was suddenly picked up by one of the ghosts by his ankle and held high into the air above the water. While Connor just stared in awe at the sight before him Winston rushed to the rear compartment of Ecto-1, yanked open the door and retrieved one of the four proton packs stored in the back to charge. Struggling to get the pack up over his shoulders without the assistance of one of his colleagues Winston was left wide open for an attack.

"Allow me to help you." Connor volunteered as he rushed to the back of the hearse and assisted Winston with getting the proton pack on his back. "How can I help you?"

"Keep an eye on Ray. I'll handle the ghosts!"

Connor nodded as he stepped back and stared at Ray as he helplessly hung in the air almost twenty feet above the chilly, murky water in the distance. Running a scan over the water Connor noted the current, chilly temperature of forty-two degrees Fahrenheit and the overall pollution and bacteria flourishing in the water was less than ideal for anyone to be exposed to.

"Winston!" Ray shouted as he watched Winston from his awkward upside down angle. "Get the one heading toward the city!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be-" Ray shouted in surprise as the ghost unexpectedly let go of his ankle and let him plunge head first into the icy river below.

As soon as Ray's body hit the water Connor took a running start and dove into the water to locate the submerged human before he sank too low. Using his superior android vision to peer through the dark, murky depths of the water Connor honed in Ray's contrastingly warmer heat signature in comparison to the surrounding water, and swam over to where the nearly motionless human was sinking deeper into the water as the shock of the cold left him stunned.

Connor wrapped his arms around Ray's chest and began kicking for the surface of the dark water. As he broke through the surface of the river and looked around Connor could feel Ray already beginning to shiver as he coughed a few times and tried to breathe in as deeply as he could. "Dr. Stantz are you-"

A strange sound and energy erupting from where Winston was still standing while on the shore caused Connor's system to automatically run a scan and record the new details. A stream of radiated particles shot through the air as Winston used the proton stream to wrangle the first ghost heading toward the city, and then the second ghost who had dropped Ray into the river using the same stream.

"Fascinating..."

The two ghosts were struggling in vain against the stream as Winston kept them wrangled together and began lowering them down to the ground and toward an opened trap he placed on the street behind Ecto-1. As the two ghosts were ensnared in the particle energy within the rectangular trap they let out high pitched shrieks that were quickly silenced as the trap snapped shut around them.

"It appears Mr. Zeddemore was successful." Swimming with one arm back to the shoreline and street where the vehicle was parked Connor managed to climb out of the river and carry Ray up and out of the cold water right alongside him. Wrapping Ray's arm around his shoulders and then his own arm around Ray's waist Connor helped the shivering Ghostbuster walk over to the car so he could rest. "You're suffering from hypothermia."

"Y-Yeah, I know." Ray's teeth were chattering as he suddenly gasped and let his legs buckle as he knelt on the street beside the car. "S-So c-c-cold!"

Winston put the trap in the back of Ecto-1 and managed to shrug off his proton pack before he walked over to the side of the car to check on Ray. "Are you hurt?"

"N-No. Just cold!"

Connor nodded a little as he reached for the zipper on Ray's jumpsuit and pulled it down a little. "Do you have emergency blankets in the vehicle?"

"N-No."

Winston grabbed onto Ray's arm with one hand and opened the passenger side door with his other hand. "Sit in the front and crank up the heat. I'm taking you back to headquarters right now."

"Y-Yeah. Ok-kay." Shivering still Ray sat down and wrapped his arms around his chest in an attempt to warm himself up as much as possible. "D-Did you get the g-ghosts?"

"Yeah, two in one."

"N-Nice."

"Connor," motioning to the driver's side of the car as he closed Ray's door Winston motioned for the deviant to climb into the front seat in the middle so they could head out. "you're sticking with us."

"Yes. Of course."

"Man, aren't you cold, too?"

"Yes. But unlike Dr. Stantz my thermal regulator has already adjusted to the cold and compensated for my heat loss. I am cold, but I am not suffering from hypothermia."

"Yeah, sure." As Connor sat down in the front seat beside Ray and continued to monitor the scientist's condition Winston sat down behind the steering wheel and turned the key in the ignition. "Just to make things easier I'm going to pretend I understood that and just assume you're telling the truth."

"...Thank you?"

"Don't thank me yet. Wait until we're back at headquarters and away from the haunted river. _Then_ you can thank me."

* * *

Despite the late hour Egon didn't hesitate to check over Ray's vital signs and ensure that his friend wasn't in any danger after his unexpected swim in the dirty Hudson River. As Ray huddled around himself under a blanket and dressed in clean, dry clothes after a nice long, very hot shower he allowed Egon to check his breathing with a stethoscope, and then take his temperature with a digital thermometer.

"You're lucky you didn't inhale any of the water." Egon noted as he forcibly extracted Ray's arm from under the blanket to get to a vein and draw some blood for a quick test. "Did you swallow any?"

"God, I hope not. If I did I'd request an immediate ipecac."

"Agreed."

"Where's Connor?"

"He is now showering off as well."

"Good. You know something Egon? He saved my life tonight."

"How so?"

"I hit that cold water and every muscle in my body just locked up. I couldn't see or hear anything and I had no idea which direction was up. Right when I was sure I was going to lose my breath and drown I felt Connor wrap his arms around my chest and carry me up to the surface."

"I'll make he knows you're appreciative. For now you need to go lay down in the bunkroom under a pile of blankets and keep as warm as possible. If you get a lung infection from the cold it's going to be nasty."

"Yeah. Good idea." Standing up from the chair with the blanket greedily wrapped around himself Ray awkwardly walked across the community room that doubled as their lab and into the neighboring bunkroom to get some rest. "I take it you're going to be checking in on me from time to time for the next three days, right?"

"Right. The usual protocol for when any of us has been injured, or is at risk of an illness."

"Sure. See ya' in an hour."

With Ray taken care of Egon went into the showers through the secondary doorway between the bunkroom and lab to check on Connor. The shower had been turned off and Connor was standing in the shower wrapped up in the towel with his eyes closed and his now exposed L.E.D. blinking a calm blue. "Connor?"

"Yes, Dr. Spengler?" Opening his eyes Connor locked onto Egon's face and studied his expression.

"Why are you standing in the shower?"

"I am waiting for my clothes to dry."

"Wait here, I'll get you some spare clothing to wear."

"Thank you."

Egon walked over to the small laundry adjacent to the showers and located a pair of spare gray sweatpants a white t-shirt, and pair simple slippers for Connor to wear until his normal clothing had been cleaned. "This should be comfortable for you."

"Thank you." Connor accepted the clothing and then closed the pale blue curtain over the shower while Egon turned his back to give Connor a modicum of privacy while the deviant spoke to him from the other side. "How is Dr. Stantz?"

"Ray is resting as of now and is recovering from his hypothermia. However I suspect he'll be suffering from a lung infection as a result of being exposed to dangerously cold and dirty water."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get him out of the river faster."

"Why are you apologizing because an unexpected encounter with a ghost resulted in an unexpected confrontation? It's not your fault that Ray was attacked and thrown in the river."

"The only reason we were at the river is because Dr. Stantz and Mr. Zeddemore wanted me to see Ellis Island as a means of uplifting my mood." Pushing open the curtain Connor stepped out in the dry clothes and stood before Egon with his L.E.D. cycling yellow and guilt welling up in his soulful brown eyes. "We had no reason to be there beyond a detour for my benefit."

"It still isn't your fault."

"I don't feel that way."

"If you're up for talking I wish to discuss that tome you told Ray about. I have a theory as to why it exists without an author and why our actions, whether they were positive or negative as the Ghostbusters, was excluded from history."

"Of course. May I ask where Mr. Zeddemore and Dr. Venkman are currently?"

"Winston is cleaning the smell of the river out of Ecto-1 and Peter went home approximately twenty minutes before you arrived. Ray informed me of everything that has happened and he currently isn't in any danger which means Winston will be returning home shortly as well."

"And you?"

"I spend more time here than my own apartment due my work. Considering Ray is currently resting after his swim in the river I will remain here regardless." Motioning for Connor to take his leave of the showers Egon directed him back to their lab and community room so they can talk. "The more information you can give me the more effective my research into this unusual phenomenon will be."

"If you can help me find my way home I'll be eternally grateful."

Throughout the night Egon and Connor discussed the documented findings and Connor's scanner helped to confirm the same odd signature appearing at every paranormal disturbance that had happened that very night. Through a series of trial and error the two intelligent beings determined the cause of their predicament and with it came an unsettling thought.

"But how can I be causing these events to transpire?" Connor looked genuinely confused and almost frightened. "I have no ties to Shandor or his disgusting cult. I... I don't even have a soul to sacrifice to his bizarre demigods."

"From what we learned of Shandor when we managed to briefly explore the ruins of his sunken island Shandor had advanced technology that can rival our current technology despite being well over a century old. It's entirely possible he was experimenting with the concept of artificial life and had created a serum that isn't dissimilar to the very Thirium running through your lines."

"I had injured myself when I fell through the floor, and in door so drops of my lost Thirium did manage to make contact with the unusual artifact in the basement. Perhaps Thirium can double as an ethereal fuel."

"Based on the information I collected when I ran your blood sample I can confirm that Thirium contains the same properties that allowed Shandor to channel so much energy into his selected slime. In fact, the chemical composition to Thirium could potentially be the base in the slime formula."

"Can we use that information to our advantage?"

"I believe we can use your Thirium to open up the gate again and send you back to your time and your dimension."

"...My dimension?"

"It makes sense. The reason you were unable to uncover any information on us in your timeline is because you're from a parallel dimension where alternate events took place and the team and company had never been founded. The fact that a tome containing Ray's exact information had been located in an abandoned business that Ray himself once operator corroborates this theory."

"In my timeline the Ghostbusters do not exist, but your research had taken place through an alternate mean. Perhaps in my timeline Shandor had been planning to summon Gozer in Detroit but was found and executed before he could fulfill his plan, whereas in your timeline he had succeeded in the ritual before he had been caught."

"It's a sound theory."

"When do we go back to the apartment and reactivate the gateway? I would like to return home as soon as I can."

"As soon as we can figure out why that pulse took place in the city we can get you home. A random attack against you, Ray and Winston down at the water proves that the energy pulse has stirred up activity, but for what purpose I cannot say."

A soft cough from the bunkroom stole Connor's attention and caused his L.E.D. to shift to red. "Dr. Stantz has developed minor pulmonary congestion."

"Damn it." Standing up from his chair Egon picked up the stethoscope and a small first aid kit from the nearby desk as he went to go check in on Ray again. "Can I ask for your assistance?"

"Yes, of course. I can help you diagnose the severity of his illness if it becomes necessary."

"How so?"

"I can use my scanner to analyze any potential bacteria in his blood."

"That could be useful." Walking into the bunkroom Egon put his hand on Ray's shoulder as the sick scientist was laying on his side in the bed near the far wall of the room. The touch was enough to make Ray open up his glassy eyes and recognize the worry in Egon's eyes as his friend pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. "Ray, do yo know where you are?"

"...Headquarters."

"Good."

Coughing again Ray rolled onto his back and let out an annoyed sigh. "I guess I got sick after all."

"It seems that way." Egon put the earbuds of the stethoscope into place and pressed the bell to Ray's chest to listen to his breathing. "You have a fever and notable congestion. Any other symptoms?"

"My head hurts." Ray admitted in a groggy, tired voice. Coughing again Ray patiently waited for Egon to finish his quick exam and gave Connor a curious glance as the deviant android stood behind Egon. "How are you doing, Connor? Can androids get sick?"

"Not in the traditional sense, but I am however doing well."

"Good to hear it."

Egon finished with the stethoscope and pulled on Ray's arm to gain access to the vein in the bend of his elbow, then opened the first aid kit to retrieve the clean, sterilized syringe to get a blood sample to be tested. "I'm going to check your blood and see if you have a bacterial infection."

"Yeah, sure."

"Then tomorrow when Winston and Peter return I'm going to explore the apartment building. I'll go with Connor and Winston while Peter stays here to keep an eye on you."

"Did you figure something out?"

"Possibly." Swabbing Ray's arm with an alcochol wipe Egon then pierced his skin with the syringe's needle and acquired his blood sample. "We've determined that Connor did not use the gateway to travel through time, but in fact used it to travel from one dimension to another."

"A parallel universe."

"Precisely."

"That explains the inconsistent history between our reality and his." Ray agreed as he looked to the deviant android and gave him a subtle nod. The paleness of his face made Ray look exhausted but he was in fact excited about the revelation. "Do you know what allowed you to complete such a feat?"

"We suspect my Thirium is of a similar chemical composition of the slime that Ivo Shandor used in his experiments, and can possibly channel ethereal energy to focus and direct it in a means to control supernatural forces."

"That's incredible..."

"Yes. With that knowledge we can theoretically reverse the gateway and allow me to return to my home without causing any further disturbances."

"Speaking of disturbances. Did you- ow!" Ray jumped as Egon finished with the blood sample and accidentally caused the puncture mark to sting as he pulled back the needle. "Easy, Egon."

"Sorry."

"Did you figure out what the psychokinetic energy pulse has done to the city? You know, aside from awaken a couple of grumpy sailors from their watery graves."

"Not yet." Connor admitted as his scanner noted a few random surges of the strange reading he had picked up on before. Ghosts were roaming the streets and seemed to be searching for something as they avoided people and didn't seem to hone in on a singular item. "I believe the pulse stemming from one of Shandor's creations had stirred up the spirits of his deceased followers and they are now attempting to finish Shandor's bidding."

"Interesting theory... What makes you think that?"

"I can detect numerous spirits of the same energy signature of the same paranormal encounter I experienced in my own dimension. The spirits of the two sailors emitted a secondary, different signature."

Ray's mismatched eyes briefly lit up with curiosity at the idea of tracking ghosts and their spiritual connections gave him energy. "If it's possible to trail ghosts through-" Coughing again Ray put his hand over his mouth and didn't fight it when Egon tried to get him to lay still. "...We might be able to track ghosts," Ray continued in a somewhat raspy voice. "we might be able to more effectively spread our resources and catch the violent dangerous ghosts faster."

Egon agreed with the sentiment, but didn't want Ray to push himself to begin a new project while ill. "Connor and I will look into this prospect while you rest."

"I'm not that sick."

"The sound of your coughing begs to differ. I'm also going to check your blood to determine whether or not you'll require antibiotics."

"Well, don't start on anything interesting without me."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Taking his leave of the bunkroom Egon sensed Connor following after him and didn't mind the android going out of his way to assist the team in their research. "You said you can run an analysis on Ray's blood, can you show me?"

"Yes, but I feel I must warn you that the method can appear quite unsettling."

"I doubt that you can do anything that'll unsettle me."

"Very well." Accepting the vial of Ray's blood Connor opened the sterilized container and pressed his fingertip down inside the blood before pressing the blood to his tongue to run an analysis. All the while he did this Egon didn't flinch, he didn't even blink. "There is an elevation in his white blood cell count, but the C-reactive protein is only at twenty-eight which is indicative of a mild to moderate infection. I suspect he has contracted a mild case of leptospirosis due to the abundance of rats in the city spreading the disease to the fresh water river. Penicillin or doxycycline is advised."

"Makes sense. I have a contact that can get us the appropriate antibiotics."

"You trust my judgment?"

"I can read people exceptionally well and you're not a liar, Connor. You also have no reason to want Ray's condition to deteriorate."

"Thank you for assisting me and for trusting me."

"I'm going to run more tests on your Thirium. If you wish to rest you can use a vacant bed in the bunkroom, otherwise you're welcome to join me."

"I'd very much prefer to assist in your research. It's crucial that I return to my dimension sooner rather than later."

"May I ask why?"

"My Thirium is relatively low due to being injured and giving you samples for testing. I cannot regenerate my own Thirium in the same way organic lifeforms can regenerate their own blood. Without any Thirium existing from other sources in this dimension I am in danger of shutting down."

"Interesting. How so?"

"I must replenish my Thirium reserves every two weeks in order to maintain proper function of my biocomponents; the equivalent to internal organs. If I cannot do this I will sustain irreparable damage and I will shutdown."

"I assume by 'shutdown' you mean... die."

Connor sighed warily as he confirmed Egon's suspicion. "Correct."

"We'll work as quickly as we can, Connor. We'll get you home to where you belong."

Sitting down in the chair beside the desk Connor began reading over Egon's notes with surprising ease, and gave the stoic physicist an appreciative nod. "Thank you, Dr. Spengler."

* * *

**October 8th, 1992:**

The surprisingly quiet night had led to an equally quiet morning. New Yorkers were used to dealing with unusual sights and sounds throughout the city, especially since the Ghostbusters proved that ghosts, demons and demigods in fact exist, and as such everyone in the city just went about their usual routines without batting an eye. One of such steadfast New Yorker was Janine Melnitz, the lone secretary to the Ghostbusters, and their unofficial matriarch as she didn't take any grief from anyone.

Walking through the large green door of the building's ground floor with a cup of warm coffee in her hand Janine strolled over to her desk as per usual and checked for any messages from potential overnight calls. The machine was empty and that meant she had less work to go through during her morning ritual.

From upstairs a loud cough sounded off and Janine recognized it as coming from Ray. "Oh great." Adjusting her glasses over her eyes Janine made her way to the staircase and put her hands on her hips as she spotted Egon working in his lab, and no one else around. "If Ray has the flu tell him to go home! I didn't get my flu shot yet."

"It's not the flu." Egon replied in a dry tone as he hovered over his microscope and made a few notes on the nearby pad of paper.

"Is anyone taking care of him?"

"Yes. Connor."

"...Who's Connor?"

"I am Connor." The deviant android replied from the doorway of the bunkroom as he curiously came to investigate the unfamiliar voice. He had changed back into his original clothing now that it had been washed and dried, and he appeared much more comfortable. "I have been watching over Dr. Stantz and monitoring his condition frequently."

"Oh..." Janine's demeanor quickly shifted from stern to flirtatious as she took in the sight of Connor standing before her. "Well, that's very kind of you. I'm Janine, by the way."

"Hello."

"I work downstairs as the secretary, but I'm so much more than that."

Connor didn't know what to say or how to react, but fortunately Egon came to his rescue.

"Janine, can you please wait downstairs and let Winston and Peter know we're up here waiting for them."

"Yeah, sure. Maybe I can take Connor to lunch later on." Giving Connor a sly smile Janine turned around and sauntered down the staircase to return to the ground floor of the building. "You always work your interns too hard."

As Janine took her leave Connor looked over at Egon and gave him an odd glance. "...Intern?"

"Let her think you're an intern, it's a lot easier to explain than you coming from a parallel dimension."

"I suppose that's correct." Pressing his fingertips to his glowing L.E.D. the deviant android's mouth ticked a little. "She either didn't notice my L.E.D., or she didn't care."

"She may not have noticed. She was too busy looking at other features on your person."

"O-Oh..." A pale blue blush appeared on his face as he realized that Janine was trying to flirt with him, and embarrassment quickly set it.

"Janine is harmless. Don't worry about her."

Clearing his throat a little Connor rejoined Egon at the desk and checked over his notes. "Will this work on reactivating the gate?"

"Possibly." Holding up a small vial of a transparent blue liquid Egon looked at Connor and gave him a intrepid look. "We'll need to test it first."

"How so?"

"Shandor has unusual artifacts strewn about the city in fairly densely populated areas. We'll need to test a smaller artifact in an isolated area before we use this synthetically produced Thirium on the larger gate."

Downstairs the door opened up again as both Winston and Peter arrived for the day, and both men looked tired. Winston was carrying a plastic bag containing the antibiotics that Egon requested an ally at a nearby clinic to prescribe, as well as a few other home remedies to help Ray feel better. Peter on the other hand was more interested in knowing if the mayor was going to be a pain in the butt during their investigation.

"Where's Ray?"

"Bunkroom." Egon stated sharply as he and Connor watched the two Ghostbusters arrive. "Make sure he drinks plenty of water in case he begins to vomit."

"No problem."

Peter's brow arched and he gave his friend a suspicious glance. "Pardon me? Vomiting? You two didn't try to recreate 'The Exorcist' and Ray possessed again, did you?"

"No, Peter. Last night Ray was thrown into the Hudson River courtesy of a ghost."

"Oh, gross. Please tell me you took him out back and hosed him off."

"Ray is clean, but now ill. We need you to stay here and keep an eye on him while Winston, Connor and myself try to reactivate the gateway."

"Why me?"

"Do you want to explore Shandor's abandoned properties where he practice the occult, or stay here with Ray?"

"You know what? I'll stay with Ray." Sitting down at the small table Peter kicked up his feet and leaned back with a casual demeanor. "You three have fun exploring the creepy haunted places that will definitely need some bustin'."

"How noble of you."

Connor ignored Peter and closed his eyes as he tapped into his collected information Shandor in an attempt to locate a building of interest. The information was sparse and didn't fully chronicle all of Shandor's known properties, and beyond what he had already read in the tome there was nothing more for him to use to his advantage. "Where should we go to begin the experiment?"

"We should-"

The sound of 'crunching' metal in the streets outside drew everyone's attention to the large window overlooking the street, and as a result everyone crowded around the window to check things out. A group of ghosts who appeared to be from the 1920's were harassing people in the street and beginning to circle the building itself.

Connor's scanner confirmed that the ghosts were follower's of Shandor, and their demeanor was rather aggressive. "Dr. Spengler, I believe the ghosts are sensing the synthetic Thirium. We need to get it out of the city."

"You maybe correct." Stepping away from the window Egon addressed the four people gathered around him and took charge while Ray was down with a severe illness. "Change of plans. Winston and Peter will wrangle the ghosts outside while Janine watches over Ray inside. Connor and I will head out to test the Thirium and possibly lure the ghosts away from the city in the process."

"Good idea." Peter spoke up and gave Egon a sarcastic pat on the shoulder. "You two act as live-bait while me and Winston play the heroes."

"If you play and win at hero then I believe the mayor will finally give you the increase in salary from the city that you've been pushing."

"Like I said," Peter nudged Winston in the side and motioned to the staircase beside them with a thumb over the shoulder. "good idea! Let's go Winston. The city needs us. _ Again_."

"Connor." Speaking to the deviant android in a level tone Egon picked up two vials of his synthetic Thirium and nodded at him. "We'll take Ecto-1 and drive out of the city."

"To where?"

"We'll head North and go out to Sleepy Hollow. Shandor had a small house on the very outskirts of town and I have a hunch that there's at least one artifact left on the property we can use for a test."

* * *

As Ecto-1 sped out of the garage of the modified headquarters and started driving North the agitated spirits seemed to follow after the vehicle for a few blocks before they either faded away, or had been successfully wrangled by Winston and Peter in the streets. The pursuit broke off fairly quickly and Connor failed to detect any further ghosts trailing after the iconic hearse.

"The ghosts are no longer pursuing us." The deviant confirmed as Egon slowed the hearse's speed and continued on their way North to Sleep Hollow.

"They may be unable to detect the synthetic Thirium from a certain distance. That can help bide our time to ensure our theory is correct."

"If we can replicate the energy pulse and the events that allowed me to inadvertently travel from my dimension to your dimension I should be able to return to my home in the manner in which I had left. Considering it only took fours drops of my pure Thirium, barely 0.0067628045 fluid ounces, in order to activate the gate I suspect we'll need double the amount due to the synthetic Thirium being half of the overall consistency of pure Thirium."

"I agree. Your calculations seem highly accurate."

"Have you ever performed such an experiment before?"

"No. I run tests and smaller experiments in the lab where my equipment is readily available."

Connor turned to look out the passenger side window and noted the impressive lack of technology lining the streets, filling the stores or dictating people's lives. Being unable to cybernetically connect to any of his allies, communicate with anyone beyond verbal discussions or handwritten notes, and being unable to do anything to locate Hank to seek his friend's advice Connor just felt entirely lost and alone.

If the Ghostbusters hadn't found him in the basement of the building Connor could've been discovered by someone else who would see his existence as a threat and either have him locked away, or worse, taken apart and examined. He was very grateful for their assistance and yet their distinct unfamiliarity and lack of information on their existence from his own dimension was strikingly disconcerting.

As the ominous possibility of being stranded in this alternate dimension without any Thirium to sustain him reared its ugly head Connor's blue L.E.D. cycled to yellow and stayed in the cautious color throughout the remainder of the drive. Fortunately their destination was barely an hour away from the city, and in that time Connor's physical exhaustion began to set in.

"Are you well, Connor?" Egon seemingly asked out of nowhere as he noticed that Connor had fallen silent and was sitting alarmingly still beside him. "If you were injured or damaged when you dove into the river to rescue Ray please tell me. I might be able to help you."

"I am uninjured, Dr. Spengler. I'm merely calculating the odds of our success with the experiment resulting with my safe return to my own dimension, versus being trapped here without any means of taking care of myself. It's rather... distracting."

"I'm not one to give pep-talks or express empathy with my words but I can assure you that regardless of our experiment's results I will continue to search for a way to send you back to your dimension."

"Thank you."

* * *

Back in the city just outside of the brick and mortar building that had been converted into the Ghostbusters' headquarters Winston and Peter worked hard to wrangle the last of the ghosts plaguing the streets, and lock them away inside their traps. As the last of the destructive ghosts were captured and sealed up inside the glowing rectangular boxes everything fell silent and the streets remained void of activity from ghosts or people alike.

"Finally!" Winston huffed as he picked up the two loaded traps by their cables and hefted them over his shoulder. "We need to deposit these suckers and check in on Ray."

"Hold that thought, Winston." Peter pointed to an all too familiar looking black luxury Sedan pulling up in front of their headquarters. The rear passenger door opened and Mayor Mulligan stepped out of the car and had a heavy scowl on his face as he approached Peter to talk. "I'm going to have a little chat with 'his honor' and keep him from forcing us out of business."

"Uh-huh. Just remember if you get my laid off I will expect a hearty unemployment check!"

"Yeah, yeah... Go take care of the ghosts and make sure Janine didn't smother Ray under his pillow, okay?"

"I'm on it."

"Hello, Jock." Peter greeted in an almost mocking manner as the mayor marched toward him in a huff. "How can we help you on this fine, beautiful morning?"

* * *

Locating the correct property at the end of a dirt road outside of Sleepy Hollow the iconic hearse came to a gentle stop outside the old, brick house. Shortly afterward Egon turned off the engine and pocketed the key as he and Connor stepped out of the vehicle to investigate the long since deserted building. The front door was boarded up, and all of the windows were either cracked or completely broken out. The exterior bricks were almost black from erosion and age, and were covered in dense green vines that snaked up the walls and toward the decrepit, partially collapsed roof. The corner of the roof also held four of the Gozerian style gargoyles that loomed over the property.

"I know we're in the correct area." Connor observed the structure of the building and noted the architecture. "The property is distinctly Gozerian."

"Agreed." Taking a P.K.E. meter from his belt Egon used the device to scan the area and hone in on any unusual activity and frequencies taking place on the perimeter. The meter began to glow and buzz in Egon's hand as it picked up on something distinct. "There is something here. It's small in size yet emitting a powerful signature."

"Is it inside the house or elsewhere on the property?"

"It appears to be inside the house."

"Very well. I'll find a way in."

Keeping his scanner active Connor examined the property and checked the exterior of the house for a way inside. The front door seemed like the optimal way to get inside, but if the doorway was destabilized it'd be too risky to use as an entrance. Checking over the structural integrity of the doorway very carefully Connor saw no immediate danger and worked to remove the thick wooden boards that were barring the way inside. One by one the four boards were pried free and with the removal of the boards the front door was exposed at long last.

"I believe I found our way inside."

"I concur."

Grabbing onto the old doorknob Connor turned it slowly and pushed the door open. In doing so the knob broke off in his hand and the entire door shuddered violently. Staying back to ensure that doorway didn't give out Connor scanned the interior of the old, dark house and saw no furniture or sign of life inside of the rotting building.

"It's entirely empty." Connor stated in a low voice as he turned to look at Egon beside him. "Do you know where we should begin looking?"

"I suggest the study in the back."

Connor nodded as he scanner the property and determined that there was no basement or storage cellar to be searched, and the second and third floors were far too unstable to be explored properly. Setting foot inside Connor waited for Egon to join him as he cybernetically created a layout of the building as he noticed a large room just down the corridor.

"We're getting close." Egon confirmed as he and Connor walked down the corridor toward the room in question. The P.K.E. meter was buzzing even louder and was bright blue as it honed in on the strange signal. "It's in here."

Stepping into the room, which in fact was the layout of a long abandoned study, Connor noticed all of the shelves built into the walls were completely empty save for the impressive layer of dust and cobwebs. One of the shelves look as though it could detach from the wall at any moment, and with it a secret compartment could be revealed.

"There's something behind the shelf."

Egon held up the meter and it confirmed Connor's suspicions as the deviant approached the shelf and pulled on the shelf. The old wooden supports gave way and under his hand almost as easily as the front doorknob, and behind the shelf was an old, black metal safe. A safe that had been left untouched for almost one-hundred and seventy years.

"It's inside." Egon stated boldly as he turned off the meter and clipped the meter to his belt. "The question is, how do we open the safe?"

"I believe I can open it."

The old safe would be easy enough to force open, but until they knew what was inside it was too risky to try to muscle it. Putting his left hand on the top of the safe Connor retracted his artificial skin to pressed his exposed pal down on the surface, and used his right hand to turn the front dial on the lock. The old tumblers shook under the motions and Connor's hand could detect when they were properly aligned. In less than a minute the lock released, and Connor was able to turn the handle to pull the door open.

"Success."

"Impressive." Egon stated as he walked toward the safe and peered inside. "A singular object; one of stone, marble and gold. Appears to be from the Gozerian era of history. Pre-Mesopotamian."

"The object looks like a a type of... tablet. Written in Gozerian scripture."

"Unfortunate. Ray and I have been unable to properly translate anything in Gozerian that hadn't already already been translated by Shandor himself."

Connor paused for a moment before he spoke up again. "...It says: 'Those who bask in the glory of Gozer shall ascend to the highest plane. The blood of the unpure shall cleanse the earth and from their sacrifice seeds of the devote shall bloom forth and rise above all others.'"

Egon gave Connor an incredulous stare as he listened to the translation in near awe. "...You can speak Gozerian?"

"Polyglot." The deviant android reminded Egon with a casual lilt. "There's more. It goes onto say: 'A vessel of consciousness and without spirit shall lead the way from the new world and into the next. Those who are deemed worthy of Gozer shall walk beside him and control the masses from a throne high above.'"

"It sounds like a prophecy that Shandor was attempting to bring to fruition."

"Based on this translation it sounds as though Shandor was attempting to act as this 'vessel', and his experiments were a means of possibly... altering his soul in the process."

"Very strange."

"I doubt we'll get much a response from a test on this tablet." Picking it up very carefully from the safe Connor held it in both hands and out for Egon to see more clearly. "Perhaps a small amount will result in a simple reaction."

"Agreed." Taking a vial of the synthetic Thirium from his jumpsuit pocket Egon removed the cork and turned the vial to let a single drop fall onto the stone surface. The blue blood soaked into the aged stone and filled in the enigmatic characters with pale blue color. "Something should-"

A burst of ethereal energy erupted from the tablet and green aura filled the room. The aura took the form of a humanoid being and hovered above the two men ominously. Before either Connor or Egon could react the aura suddenly flew downward and enveloped Connor in the green aura and instantly overwhelmed the deviant android.

Dropping the stone tablet to the ground Connor took a step back from Egon and pressed his hands to his face as he dropped to his knees. The yellow L.E.D. in his temple shifted an impossible green color and Connor let out a pained groan.

"Connor?!" Egon dropped to his knees in front of the android and held up the P.K.E. meter in front of him to get a scan. The readings were off the scale and Egon knew that the android was in trouble. "Connor, focus on-"

The android's strong hand reached out and wrapped around Egon's throat. As Connor opened his eyes Egon could see that the soulful brown irises had shifted to a hauntingly hollow yellow color, and that any sign of the real Connor was completely gone.

"F-Fight it!" Egon urged as Connor stood up and kept his hand around the physicist's throat. "Don't let it... possess you!"

Connor's eyes blinked slowly as if he was conflicted and didn't know what to do.

"I... I know you... are there!" Egon fought to speak around the pressure being applied to his throat as he refused to let Connor be lost to a ghostly possession. "You can... fight it!"

"...I..." Connor's voice was hoarse and garbled with static. "...It wants... me. I am... a vessel."

"No, you're not." Struggling to break Connor's strong grip away from his throat Egon remembered what the tablet said and challenged it. "It said... it needs a soulless vessel." He stated in as confident a tone as he could muster. "You... You're not soulless!" Shouting a bit Egon made his voice heard. "I... I took your... vitals. You... You register as... someone with a... soul! Fight it!"

"I... I... can't!" Connor's hand suddenly let Egon go and the android took a step back. "Get... Get away!"

Egon coughed and rubbed his hand over his throat were bruises were sure to form. Reacting quickly Egon picked up the tablet and rushed out of the house to get to Ecto-1 to seek a proton pack to engage the 'slime blower' and use it to displace the spirit possessing Connor's body. As he pulled open the rear compartment of Ecto-1 a loud 'crash' sounded off as Connor's possessed body burst through the roof and began flying off into the sky back toward the city.

"Damn." Egon cleared his throat as he rushed to the front of the car and grabbed the radio connecting the hearse to their headquarters and gave his team an update on the situation. Keeping the tablet in his hand as he spoke Egon knew that their case just got far more interesting. "Ecto-1 to base, gentlemen, we have a problem..."

* * *

At the headquarters within the city Janine had busied herself with taking care of Ray as the engineer fought off his rather severe sickness, and was away from her desk when Egon's call came in. Fortunately both Winston and Peter were downstairs and heard the call come in. While Peter fumed about having to deal with the mayor again Winston remained professional and answered the call, and acknowledged everything Egon had told him so he could relay it to his colleagues as they awaited Egon's return.

"Great," Winston sighed as he rubbed his fingertips to his temples as a heavy headache was beginning to set in. "how do we handle an android possessed by some Gozerian ghost that was resurrected from a weird stone tablet?"

"Beats me." Peter replied as he spun around in Janine's vacated desk chair and gave Winston a completely uninterested look. "That's why we're waiting for our beloved 'brainiac' to get back."

"I'm going to check on Ray and let him know what's happening."

"Good idea. I'll stay here and guard the phone."

Winston gave Peter a slight shake of his head as he walked up the staircase, crossed through the lab and community room and checked in on Ray in the bunkroom. He was asleep and Janine was sitting on the edge of the bed as she pressed a small bag of ice against his feverish forehead. "How is he?"

"Out. I think that medicine you bought knocked him out."

"Well, the more he sleeps the better he'll be."

"Did I hear Egon radio in a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah. Uh, he and Connor found something at Shandor's place and it, uh, well... Some ghost from the Gozerian era possessed Connor."

"What?" Her face went pale and her eyes went wide. "What's going to happen now?"

"We're going to meet up with Egon and track Connor down. He... The _ghost_ that possessed his body is heading our way. Egon wants us to go back to the apartment building and check out that artifact again. He's sure that's where Connor's going right now."

"Can I help?"

"Just keep an eye on Ray. As long as we can keep one of our allies safe then it'll be a win."

* * *

Egon sped back to New York as quickly as he dared. It was a struggle to keep track of the ghost's trail as the distance between himself and Connor's possessed body kept increasing by the second, but Egon knew his hunch was correct. One quick stop at headquarters to pick up Winston and Peter was all he needed to make before continuing on to the apartment on the West side of the city. Speeding up to the front of the modified firehouse Egon slammed on the brakes and watched as Peter and Winston rushed over to the vehicle and climbed inside.

"Do you have a trail?" Winston asked as he sat down in the front beside Egon and glanced about the sky as if he expected to see Connor somewhere.

"Yes, but it's faint." Heading out to the apartment building where he was certain the ghost would take Connor's body Egon sped through the traffic and made a mental note to thank Ray for installing the emergency lights and sirens when he repaired the hearse all those years ago. "The ghost who possessed Connor's body was one of Gozer's followers and will undoubtedly head to the gateway that Connor used to cross into our dimension."

"What makes you say that?"

"The tablet. Connor was able to translate it and the inscription is a prophecy detailing how a vessel taken by one of Gozer's minions would lead the way into a new world to conquer. The gateway is the way into a new world."

"Ah, man."

Peter just shook his head as he picked up the stone tablet that had been placed in the back of the hearse and noticed the pale blue stain over the stone surface. "You and your science, Egon."

Winston glanced back at the tablet in Peter's hands and gave it a strange look. "So why did he pick Connor and not you?"

"Connor's android body is superior to that of a human, and we theorized that the Thirium used to keep androids functioning shares the same chemical composition that Shandor's own slime chambers channeled to keep ethereal energy focused. Essentially Connor's design made him perfect for a spirit to possess in order to fulfill Gozer's prophecy."

"Damn."

"That's what I said."

"How do we free him?"

"We'll need to use the slime blower to neutralize the spirit's energy and then capture it. Afterward we'll need to break the tablet to ensure no other spirits can use the artifact to try again."

From the backseat Peter spoke up with unexpected enthusiasm. "Break it? Now that sounds fun!"

"We just need to break it enough to disrupt the energy flow. Ray and I will need to continue to study it to ensure none of Shandor's influence can harm another innocent person."

"Egon, correct me if I'm wrong, but..." Winston suddenly looked and sounded very uneasy about the entire situation. "the fact that Connor showed up at the same as this weird psychokinetic pulse warped over the city, and he's the perfect vessel sounds too convenient to be a coincidence."

"The ghost could've inhabited any android vessel. Connor just had the misfortune of being chosen."

"You're sure about that?"

"Positive. I don't pick up on any form of hostile nature coming from his person."

"I sure hope you're right."

"As do I."

Peter leaned forward from the backseat and gave Egon a strange look. "Is that doubt I hear, Spengz? This really _is_ a weird case..."

The sight of the odd apartment building looming in the shrinking distance made the trio feel unnerved. The sky above the building had taken on an odd green hue, and the four gargoyles perched atop the roof seemed to have green glowing eyes that watched as the iconic hearse pulled up in front of the haunted, foreboding apartment building.

"I get the feeling you were right about where our ghosty-pal took our resident android, Egon." Sitting back in his seat Peter let out a deep breath and checked over the packs. "Welp, we're charged and ready to go."

"Then let's go."

The trio of Ghostbusters stepped out of the hearse and opened up the rear compartment to grab their proton packs, a trap as well as a spare, and the stone tablet to use at their disposal. Entering the apartment building through the front door once again Egon used his P.K.E. meter and noted a strong signature coming from the basement where the gateway was still located and just waiting to be used.

"We need to take the stairs one at a time." Egon cautioned in a whisper as he led the way down the staircase. "Get your packs ready."

The low whine of the three proton packs turning on and warming up echoed through the building as the trio made their way down the staircase one at a time. As soon as Egon reached the bottom of the staircase he peered through the darkness ahead and saw a figure standing before the ovular gateway as if they were waiting for someone to join them.

Peter and Winston stood behind Egon and waited for the physicist to make the first move. "...Connor?"

The figure turned their head and showed the green glowing L.E.D. in their right temple confirming their identity, despite not saying a word.

"Connor, we're going to help you. I know you can still hear me, you fought back for a while and let me go." Approaching the possessed deviant from behind Egon held the tablet tightly in his hands as he dared to get closer. "You need to trust us."

The ghost possessing Connor turned around to face him and gave him a gilded stare. "...You cannot spare this man of his fate. He belongs to Gozer."

"No. He's his own person, and he doesn't worship a fallen god."

"You'd do well to learn your place mortal." As the ghost forced Connor's right hand to raise into the air he threatened Egon and created a sphere of green energy in his palm. "It will be easier for you in the end."

Peter took a single step forward and nodded at Winston as he turned on the slime blower attached to the proton pack on his back and opened fire on the ghost using Connor as a vessel. "NOW."

Winston followed suit and also began dousing the possessed android under the cold, green slime that quickly neutralized the ghost's power. As Connor's body fell to his knees again the android seemed to regain some sense of his being and his L.E.D. shifted back to blue. Forcing himself to stand up Connor took a step back and turned to face the far wall. "You won't... use me!"

"Connor?" Egon called out as the ghost slowly lost its influence over Connor's body. "Connor, fight it!"

Unsure of what else to do or of how he could possibly get away from the ghost Connor's stress levels skyrocketed to a dangerously high level, and his instincts took over. Against his will on two levels Connor's body betrayed him and the deviant smashed his forehead against the cold, cinder block wall with such a powerful strike that a crater had formed in the surface, and cracks rippled out like waves in a pond.

"Connor?!"

Two more strikes against the wall had left Connor covered in the green slime and his own blue blood as he lost consciousness, falling to his side onto the floor, as the ghost was forced from his body. Stunned and now weak thanks to the slime and the lack of a physical vessel the ghost hovered in the air was quickly wrangled by dual proton streams as Peter and Winston shifted their packs into their primary function.

"Trap!" Winston shouted as he kept his eyes on his target. "We need a trap!"

Egon tossed a trap down in the center of the floor before he threw down the stone tablet and gave the ancient prophecy a firm stomp with the heel of his boot. As the stone was split in two a surge of ethereal energy escaped but was immediately drawn into the trap as it opened up, and its bright white light filled the room.

"Almost got him!"

"Wait until the energy is pulled in!" Egon cautioned and he threw down the second trap as a precaution. "Then go for the ghost. We can't risk anything reactivating the gate."

"He ain't goin' anywhere!" Peter shouted as he and Winston worked in tandem keep the ghost wrangled and contained. "We got a special place for this spooky jackass in our containment unit back at headquarters."

The ghost let out an annoyed shriek as they vainly struggled against the proton streams. "Gozer will return!" The threat would've been more intimidating if the green specter wasn't already halfway contained inside the trap. "Gozer will destroy all of you!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Peter and Winston turned off their streams as the trap snapped shut around the ghost and kept it contained within. "We've been threatened by gods before. But check it out, we're still standing."

With the situation contained Egon rushed over to Connor check on his condition. Carefully he rolled Connor onto his back and used his hand to wipe away the slime and blue blood from Connor's face. "Connor?" The android's L.E.D. was glowing in red and pulsing slowly, and he was entirely unconscious. Pressing his hand down over the center of Connor's chest Egon felt and counted his pulse and let out a breath of relief. "He's still alive, but in bad shape."

Winston joined Egon beside Connor's body and looked at his face. "Damn. He was ready to sacrifice himself to save everyone from Gozer's return." Putting his hand under Connor's shoulders Winston pulled the deviant up into a sitting position, then slipped his other arm under Connor's knees to scoop him up from the floor. "I guess you were right, Egon. He is a good person."

"Let's get him back to headquarters and cleaned up. We need to get that gate open and get him home, fast."

"Uh," Peter watched over to where his colleagues were kneeling in the slime and slung the traps over his shoulder. "if we need to get him back to through the gate, and the gate is literally right there, then why do we need to take him back to headquarters?"

"Because we can't just chuck his body through the gateway and hope he lands somewhere safe."

"Have you tried it?"

Winston just sighed as he stood up and carried Connor in his arms toward the staircase to get the deviant android to safety. "Well, if we're done here, at least for now, I vote for returning to headquarters so I can get the smell of a moldy basement out of my nose."

"But mold is part of the fun." Peter quipped as he followed after Winston and noticed Egon picking up the two pieces of the tablet from the floor. "Right, Spengz?"

"Not now, Peter."

"Sheesh... One guy gets possessed and suffers a head injury and suddenly all of the fun is sucked out of the room."

* * *

**October 9th, 1992:**

From within the bunkroom Ray let out a weak cough and his mismatched eyes fluttered open. Having slept through the entire previous day and oblivious to what had transpired during his slumber the engineer sat upright slowly in the bed and glanced around, only to have Egon's hand press against his shoulder to push him back down. Relenting to the physical coaxing Ray blinked a few times to clear his vision and stared up at his friend's tired face.

"Egon?"

"Stay down for a while longer. You were asleep for thirty-one hours and I don't want you moving around too quickly. You may experience a sudden drop in blood pressure as a result."

"Man, I was out for that long?" Pressing the back of his hand to his own forehead Ray felt that his temperature was normal, but he did feel a little dizzy and lightheaded. "Fever's gone, but my head is swimming."

"As I stated before, stay down for a minute."

"Where is everyone?" The silence throughout the building was uncommon and Ray needed to know what he was missing.

"Peter and Winston went to city hall to confirm that we have the situation under control, and Janine has gone home for the evening."

"Oh. With Peter gone the silence suddenly makes sense." Flashing a subtle and amused grin Ray tried to get Egon's own mood to lighten up. "How's the research going?"

"We confirmed our theory," Egon replied as he picked up Ray's wrist to count his pulse, then shined a penlight into Ray's eyes to check his pupils. "and we know we can get Connor back to his own dimension by using the synthetic Thirium. The only problem is we have to wait until I can create more."

"Create more? Why?" Lifting his head up a little more Ray sensed something was wrong. "What happened to your original batch?"

Egon moved to the side and let Ray see Connor laying unconscious in the bed beside his own.

Connor was seemingly asleep, yet the layer of white bandages wrapped around his head stated otherwise. As the android's chest slowly rose and fell with his steady breaths a secondary line was feeding Egon's synthesized Thirium directly into a primary line in the bend of Connor's right arm.

"Connor was possessed and tried to sacrifice himself to end the possession." Egon stated flatly. "He succeeded in freeing himself, but fortunately he did not kill himself in the process."

"Ah, man. Poor guy."

"...Once he awakens we can take him back to the apartment to reactivate the gate and send him home."

"But?" Ray asked as he sensed the hesitation in Egon's decision.

"...He's a truly fascinating person and has proven himself to be a valuable asset to our research. Knowing that in his own dimension our exploits were never documented makes me very curious as to what befell us, and why the Ghostbusters were never founded. Perhaps he could somehow fill that void."

"Considering he found my research tome on that 'internet' thing means that on some level we did continue our research."

"Well, you did at least."

"...Maybe he could figure out what happened and bring us some closure. I don't see why he couldn't send a message through the gate for us once he's back home where he belongs."

"Perhaps. But it'd be best to have the gateway either destroyed or locked away as soon as possible."

"I'm sure Connor will take care of everything. After all," sitting upright very slowly Ray blinked a few more times and then swung his legs over the edge of the bed as he stood up on his shaking legs at a very slow pace. "he saved me, and then he was willing to do whatever it took to keep our dimension safe."

Looking over at Connor unconscious on the bed Egon agreed with Ray and nodded his head. "You're right." Putting his hand on Ray's shoulder Egon helped his friend walk over to the nearby bathroom and decided that Ray's optimistic attitude was the right way to go. "I'm sure he'll be just fine."

* * *

**October 10th, 1992:**

A slightly cold pressure against his chest made Connor's eyes open as his system rebooted and he regained consciousness. Looking up at the four faces hovering around him and tracing the cold sensation to the stethoscope bell being pressed down over his heart Connors memories returned and he regained his bearings. Seeing the looks of relief on the Ghostbusters' faces told Connor everything he needed to know that he had survived the possession, and that his new allies had helped him to recover.

"...Hello."

"Hi there, kid." Ray smiled as he put his hand on Connor's arm. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." Closing his eyes briefly Connor ran a self-diagnostic and confirmed the synthetic Thirium running through his veins, and was impressed that his system wasn't rejecting the untested substitute. Pressing his hand over his forehead Connor felt the bandages and winced a little. "...How severe was the damage?"

"Bad enough that you were unconscious for a full day, and Egon had to use his synthetic Thirium to replace the blood you lost."

"My apologies."

Egon shook his head and offered Connor his hand. "Don't apologize. You helped us stop another Gozer attack and now I have an alternate energy source to test ethereal portals."

"The Thirium activated a small portal on the tablet." Connor slowly remembered. "It can activate the gateway to allow me to return home."

"Correct."

"...Can I go now?"

Ray smirked a little as Connor finally accepted Egon's hand and sat upright on the bed. "Homesick, huh?"

"Apparently so."

"Don't worry. We'll all drive you out to the apartment building so you can go home."

"When?"

Winston spoke up in a confident voice as he watched the deviant come to his senses. "We can go right now if you want."

"...Yeah." Connor nodded a little as he worked unwrap the bandages from around his head. "I'd like to go back home. I've been away long enough."

"Come on then. Let's get you back where you belong."

* * *

Standing before the gateway in the basement of the creepy apartment building Connor let out a deep breath and held the vial of synthetic Thirium in his hand. With Egon, Ray, Peter and Winston watching him from a safe enough distance the deviant turned to look at them over his shoulder and let out an impressively human sigh of despondence.

"When I pass through this gateway it'll be the last time I see you." Look at the vial in his hand Connor wrapped his fingers around the object and let his eyes drift over to the gateway. "This needs to be destroyed to keep other malevolent forces from utilizing it for their own personal conquest."

"...Unfortunately, yes." Egon agreed as he took a step closer to the deviant. "It's for the best."

"I'll have to destroy the gate from own dimension as well."

"Correct."

"Then this is... goodbye."

"...Yes." Extending his hand Egon showed his respect for Connor. "And a reluctant one at that."

"The feeling is mutual." Shaking Egon's hand Connor managed a weak smirk as Ray, Winston and even Peter showed him the same respect. "When I get back home I'll look in your lives in my dimension. Perhaps I can put the final pieces of this puzzle into place."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

Ray nodded and gave Connor's shoulder a pat. "Take care of yourself. And if you ever end up in our dimension again, look us up."

"I will. Thanks. And thank you for everything you've done for me, without your help I wouldn't have survived my unexpected arrival in this world."

Winston nodded and Peter just crossed his arms over his chest. "Have a safe trip, man. Meeting you was a nice change of pass from the usual people who stumble out of gateways."

"I'm glad to hear it." Returning his attention to the gateway Connor slowly uncorked the bottle and poured a few drops of the synthetic Thirium onto the gateway and lifted up his arm to shield his face as the same green energy pulse erupted from the artifact just as it had done before. "...It's working." Placing the vial down on the floor Connor took a step forward and let the energy overwhelm him. "Goodbye my friends."

Peter suddenly raised his hand as if to wave goodbye as he gave the deviant some surprising final words. "See ya' on the other side."

* * *

**October 7th, 2039:**

A warm hand on his shoulder drew Connor's attention as he found himself laying on his right side on the floor of the cold basement, and blinking away the blurriness of his vision. Lifting up his head from the cold, hard ground Connor was aware of a familiar voice calling his name as the hand on his shoulder shook his slightly, then supported his weight.

"...nor? Connor." The voice sounded so far away despite being right beside Connor's ear. "Can you hear me, son?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm okay."

"Thank fuck." Hank swore as he grabbed onto the deviant's arm and pulled him up to his feet. "I didn't know what happened to ya' after you fell through the floor. I kept calling-"

Connor slowly pulled his arm from Hank's grip and then wrapped the senior detective in a tight hug of relief as Connor realized he had safely returned home.

"Whoa, easy. What's wrong?"

"...It's a very strange story."

"Any stranger than that thing?" Hank pointed at the gateway behind Connor and waited for the deviant android to let go of the hug.

Glancing back over his shoulder Connor eyed the artifact and reluctantly acknowledged it. "I need your weapon."

"Uh, why?"

"That needs to be destroyed."

"What? Why?"

"Please Hank. I'll explain everything after we leave the building."

"Alright." Removing his gun from the holster on his hip Hank handed it over to Connor to take. "Only out of morbid curiosity am I going to see where this is heading."

Connor nodded as he accepted the gun and fired a single shot at the top, central portion of the gate. The bullet struck the stone and marble surface causing it to crack, and a large portion of the gateway broke off and disintegrated into dust. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I guess." Taking his gun back Hank reholstered his weapon and gave Connor an odd glance. "Now, will you please tell me what's going on?" Putting his hand to the back of Connor's hair the senior detective gave Connor's face a once-over as he waited for the deviant to answer his numerous questions. "Did ya' hit your head, or something?"

"Yes, but that has nothing to do with the gateway."

"The 'gateway'? Connor, what the hell are you talking about?" Worried about his partner's health Hank put his hand to Connor's forehead to check for a fever and noticed that despite his light touch Connor flinched a little as if he was in pain. "You must've hit your head _hard_ when you feel."

"Hank," the deviant began to slowly walk toward the staircase with Hank right at his side as the two detectives went to take their leave of the haunted apartment building. "what do you know of parallel universe and alternate dimensions?"

"I guess not enough. Connor, what the hell happened to you tonight?"

"...It's a long story, Hank. But, it's a story that needs to be told."

"Sure kid, whatever." Stepping through the main lobby of the apartment together Hank watched as Connor stepped through the door and returned to the parked car with a mild limp in his step. "Just promise me you'll use small words and I'll listen to everything you have to say."

Turning to look back at the building Connor ran another scan, but failed to detect any trace signature still roaming the premises. "...I'll do my best, Hank. As I am still processing what happened it might take a while to explain everything."

"That's fine by me." Opening the driver's side door Hank sat down and watched as Connor joined him in the front passenger seat. "I love a good story."

The haunting was seemingly over and Connor was back home. Despite the positive outcome and his successful return home Connor couldn't help but shake the feeling that his encounter with his new allies in the parallel dimension had a much larger impact than he could've ever predicted. A strange rippling effect was surely taking place, and only time would tell how far the waves of change and connections would travel.

_**-End of Story-**_

**Author's Note: **

Source: wiki/Ivo_Shandor (sorry, I cannot provide the full link.)


End file.
